Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) is a nonprofit medical research institute founded in 1915 in Melbourne, Australia, running 12 scientific divisions across cancer, Parkinson's, malaria, and infectious diseases, funded by government grants, philanthropy, and pharmaceutical partnerships including MSD.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1915
- HeadquartersParkville, Australia
- Headcount1,001–5,000
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research does
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) is Australia's oldest medical research institute, founded in 1915 and headquartered in Parkville, Melbourne, operating as an independent nonprofit (ABN 12 004 251 423) with 1,001-5,000 employees organised across 12 scientific divisions. WEHI conducts fundamental and translational biomedical research covering cancer (brain, blood, ovarian, lung, breast, testicular), Parkinson's disease, malaria, drug-resistant bacterial infections, diabetes, coeliac disease, and healthy ageing, supported by proprietary technology platforms including the National Drug Discovery Centre (NDDC), the Colonial Foundation Diagnostics Centre, the Centre for Dynamic Imaging (with ZEISS), and a spatial biology platform. The institute generates flagship research assets such as the human E3-ome Atlas (672 high-confidence E3 ligases), BAX inhibitors for neurodegeneration, monoclonal antibodies targeting pseudaminic acid for drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, and the dual-action antimalarial MK7602 (now in Phase 1 trials with MSD/Merck). Research is published in Nature, Science, Cell, Science Advances, Nature Chemical Biology, and Nature Medicine.
WEHI serves multiple stakeholder groups: patients and the broader community as ultimate beneficiaries, pharmaceutical partners (MSD, BeOne Medicines) as commercial co-development counterparties, hospital systems (Royal Melbourne Hospital, The Royal Children's Hospital, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre) as clinical translation partners, and individual donors, foundations, and government funders as the financial base. The business model combines five revenue streams: government and competitive research grants (NHMRC, MRFF, Victorian Government), philanthropic donations and bequests (one-time, monthly recurring, cryptocurrency, major gifts), licensing and royalty income via WEHI Ventures and 66ten, clinical trial and collaborative research income with hospital partners, and NDDC fee-for-service screening. As a registered charity, WEHI does not sell commercial products; donations over AUD 2 are tax-deductible. Recent capital inflows include a $35M Victorian Government Children's Cancer CoLab commitment, $21M from the Colonial Foundation, $10M from the Children's Cancer Foundation, $10M for cancer and influenza vaccine work, and $6M for Parkinson's and leukaemia precision medicine.
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
- Legal name
- Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
- Website
- https://wehi.edu.au
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1915
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1,001–5,000 employees
- Short description
- Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) is a nonprofit medical research institute founded in 1915 in Melbourne, Australia, running 12 scientific divisions across cancer, Parkinson's, malaria, and infectious diseases, funded by government grants, philanthropy, and pharmaceutical partnerships including MSD.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Medical Research
- NAICS
- Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)
- SIC
- Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)
- akta.pro industry
- Translational Medicine & BiomarkersTarget Identification & Validation Platforms (omics-driven, chemoproteomics, genetic validation)Healthcare & Life Sciences/Biotechnology & Biologics/Biologic Drug Discovery Platforms (screening, antibody engineering, synthetic biology)In Vivo Discovery & Translational Models Platforms (humanized models, PK/PD, efficacy)Healthcare & Life Sciences/Biotechnology & Biologics/Biologic Drug Discovery Platforms (screening, antibody engineering, synthetic biology)Real-World Evidence (RWE) & Outcomes Analytics for Precision Therapies
Keywords
Where Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Parkville
- HQ country
- Australia
- HQ region
- Oceania
Offices1 record
Markets served
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Government and Competitive Research Grants: WEHI receives funding from government bodies such as the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), and other statutory research funding bodies. This is the primary funding mechanism for academic medical research institutes in Australia.
- Philanthropic Donations and Fundraising: WEHI raises funds from individual donors, major gifts, bequests, cryptocurrency donations, and fundraising events. The institute runs multiple targeted appeals including brain cancer, lung cancer, bowel cancer, Parkinson's disease, and rare cancer campaigns. Donations are tax-deductible for contributions over AUD 2.
- Licensing and Royalty Income: Commercialisation of WEHI's research discoveries through licensing agreements and royalty distribution. The institute has a Business Development and Ventures division and WEHI Ventures / 66ten to manage spin-out companies and commercialisation outcomes.
- Clinical Trial and Collaborative Research Income: WEHI conducts clinical trials in partnership with hospital systems (Royal Melbourne Hospital, The Royal Children's Hospital, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre). Research is used in national and international clinical trials, generating collaborative research income.
- National Drug Discovery Centre Fees: The NDDC provides screening services to researchers across Australia, generating fee-for-service revenue. The centre is established with government and philanthropic support and serves as the nation's premier small molecule drug screening facility.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Pay-as-you-go | Variable donation amounts accepted via website |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels8 records
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research product offering
Product offeringCore offering
WEHI is a nonprofit medical research institute that conducts fundamental and translational biomedical research across 12 scientific divisions and several collaborative centres focused on cancer, immune health, infection, developmental disorders, and healthy ageing. It delivers research outputs through peer-reviewed publications, biomarker and drug-candidate discoveries (e.g., the MK7602 antimalarial with MSD, BAX inhibitors, anti-bacterial monoclonal antibodies), fee-for-service drug screening via the National Drug Discovery Centre, and clinical translation through hospital partnerships. It is funded primarily by competitive government grants and philanthropic donations and does not sell commercial products.
Product overview
WEHI is a medical research institute offering research services, drug discovery capabilities, and educational programs rather than commercial products. Its offerings include collaborative research centres (Parkinson's Disease Research Centre, The Brain Cancer Centre, Colonial Foundation Diagnostics Centre), national screening facilities (National Drug Discovery Centre), advanced imaging services (labs@location Hub with ZEISS), scientific education platforms (WEHI.TV), and various research division specializations across 12 scientific areas.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Parkinson's Disease Research Centre: Collaborative, multi-disciplinary initiative to develop early diagnostic tests and new drugs to improve the lives of people living with Parkinson's disease
- The Brain Cancer Centre
- Colonial Foundation Diagnostics Centre
- National Drug Discovery Centre (NDDC)
- National Drug Discovery Centre
- Centre for Global Disease and Health
Products and services
- Parkinson's Disease Research Centre A collaborative, multi-disciplinary initiative that develops early diagnostic tests and new drugs to stop or slow Parkinson's disease progression; serves clinicians, patients, and pharmaceutical collaborators through research, biomarker development, and clinical translation.
- The Brain Cancer Centre A multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary medical research model focused on transforming brain cancer from a terminal illness to a treatable and survivable disease through coordinated research and clinical translation; serves brain cancer patients, clinicians, and research collaborators.
- National Drug Discovery Centre (NDDC) Australia's premier small molecule drug screening facility that provides fee-for-service high-throughput screening to researchers across Australia, enabling rapid testing of hundreds of thousands of compounds against new disease targets; serves academic researchers, biotech firms, and pharmaceutical partners.
- Colonial Foundation Diagnostics Centre A diagnostics centre that integrates WEHI's spatial biology platform into clinical practice at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, enabling pathologists to gain better information from biopsies, make faster diagnoses, and deliver tailored treatments sooner; serves hospital clinicians and patients.
- WEHI.TV A scientific animation platform producing biomedical animations that explain complex disease biology and research concepts in accessible language; serves the general public, educators, students, and donors.
- labs@location Hub with ZEISS (Centre for Dynamic Imaging) Advanced microscopy technology hub providing WEHI researchers with direct access to ZEISS cutting-edge microscopy platforms and streamlined workflows for biomedical imaging; serves WEHI researchers and the broader Melbourne biomedical research community.
Quantifiable outcome
- Dual-action antimalarial MK7602 reached Phase 1 clinical trials with blood concentration levels predicted to deliver antimalarial effect
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature8 records
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
20 partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.
- The Royal Children's HospitalcoreWEHI researcher received a Children's Cancer CoLab Future Leaders Fellowship alongside researchers from The Royal Children's Hospital, working on Victoria's first clinical trial for a new childhood brain cancer therapy.
- ZEISScoreZEISS launched its labs@location program in Australia in partnership with WEHI's Centre for Dynamic Imaging. The collaboration supports biomedical research through improved access to advanced microscopy technologies and streamlined workflows, including a microscopy activity for the DeadlyScience Pathways Program.
- MSD (Merck & Co., Inc.)flagshipNear-decade collaboration between WEHI and MSD to develop the dual-action antimalarial drug candidate MK7602. WEHI identified and optimised the compound using the National Drug Discovery Centre; MSD led Phase 1 clinical trials. Discovery was supported by Wellcome Trust and MSD funding.
- Carrie's Beanies 4 Brain Cancer FoundationflagshipCarrie Bickmore OAM founded Carrie's Beanies 4 Brain Cancer Foundation, which established The Brain Cancer Centre in partnership with WEHI with support from the Victorian Government. The centre is one of Australia's first multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional medical research models focused on brain cancer.
- ANZUP (Australian and New Zealand Urogenital and Prostate Cancer Trials Group)coreWEHI co-led the CLIMATE study with ANZUP to evaluate a blood test (miR-371) for detecting residual testicular cancer after surgery. ANZUP is a non-profit research charity improving outcomes for bladder, kidney, testicular, penile, and prostate cancers.
- Snow Centre for Immune HealthcoreThe Snow Centre for Immune Health is a collaborative initiative focused on advancing immune health research. The Sir Gustav Nossal Professor of Immunology position at WEHI will work alongside the Snow Centre to ensure continued leadership in immunology.
- BeOne MedicinesminorPartnership between BeOne Medicines and WEHI has accelerated global clinical development and fostered international research collaborations in Victoria's biomedical sector.
- Royal Melbourne HospitalcoreThrough the Colonial Foundation Diagnostics Centre, WEHI integrates its spatial biology technologies into clinical practice at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, allowing doctors to gain better information from biopsies, make faster diagnoses, and deliver tailored treatments sooner.
- Max Planck InstitutecoreInternational collaboration co-led by WEHI and the Max Planck Institute to discover how cells turn on their recycling process (autophagy) and create cellular 'garbage bags', published in Science.
- University of California, BerkeleycoreWEHI co-led an international study with UC Berkeley and Max Planck Institute to unravel the key cellular processes governing autophagy, identifying the switch that kickstarts the cellular recycling process.
- Monash UniversitycoreWEHI's Professor Michael Lazarou holds a joint appointment with Monash University's Biomedicine Discovery Institute and is co-corresponding author of the autophagy research published in Science.
- University of SydneyminorAustralian researchers from University of Sydney, University of Melbourne, and WEHI collaborated to identify pseudaminic acid as a therapeutic target for drug-resistant infections, developing monoclonal antibodies that cleared infections in mouse models.
- University of MelbourneminorCollaborative research with University of Melbourne on bacterial sugar targets for drug-resistant infections, published in Nature Chemical Biology.
- NeuRAminorWEHI Parkinson's Disease Research Centre team members lead projects alongside researchers from NeuRA in Parkinson's disease research.
- The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental HealthminorWEHI Parkinson's Disease Research Centre collaborates with The Florey on Parkinson's disease research projects.
- University of SydneyminorWEHI Parkinson's Disease Research Centre collaborates with University of Sydney on Parkinson's disease research programs.
- University of LiverpoolminorWEHI Parkinson's Disease Research Centre collaborates with University of Liverpool on Parkinson's disease research programs.
- Gene Technology Access Centre (GTAC)minorWEHI partnered with GTAC for the 2025 DeadlyScience Pathways Program, where participants attended a forensic investigation workshop delivered by GTAC.
- Wadja Aboriginal Family PlaceminorWEHI introduced presentations from staff at Wadja Aboriginal Family Place as a new activity in the 2025 DeadlyScience Pathways Program.
- Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN)minorWEHI is an active member of APMEN, collaborating with researchers from malaria-endemic countries including Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Cambodia, and Peru.
Scale indicators11 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights8 records
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI): US nonprofit biomedical research organization with $20B+ endowment funding Investigator-led labs. Operates on a comparable 'researcher-driven, nonprofit' model but at far larger scale, and is the global benchmark for academic-style biomedical research institutions.
- Francis Crick Institute: UK's flagship biomedical discovery institute. Comparable mission in fundamental biomedical research, with significantly larger scale (~1,500+ scientists), broader disease coverage, and similar dependency on government and philanthropic funding.
- Broad Institute: Joint Harvard/MIT-affiliated research institute. Comparable genomics, chemical biology and disease target identification capabilities, but operating at substantially larger scale and budget than WEHI.
Direct peers
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute: Queensland-based nonprofit medical research institute with comparable scope in cancer, infectious disease and immunology. Similar headcount, government/philanthropy funding model, and translational research mandate to WEHI.
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research: Australia's largest nonprofit medical research institute, based in Sydney. Directly comparable to WEHI in mission, scale (~1,000+ staff), funding mix (NHMRC, philanthropy) and focus on genomics, cancer and immunology — the two institutes are commonly benchmarked as Australia's flagship medical research organizations.
- South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI): Adelaide-based flagship medical research institute with similar funding mix (state government, NHMRC, philanthropy) and translational focus across cancer, heart health and Aboriginal health — comparable Australian peer in scale and structure.
- The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health: Australia's largest brain research institute, located adjacent to WEHI in Parkville. Directly comparable in scale, funding model, and translational mission; WEHI and Florey actively co-publish and collaborate on Parkinson's research.
- Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research: Western Australian nonprofit medical research institute with parallel focus on cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes research, structured around disease-focused research programs and funded through government grants and philanthropy.
- Centenary Institute: Sydney-based independent nonprofit medical research institute focused on cancer, inflammation and infectious disease. Comparable size, funding profile and translational research model to WEHI.
- Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute: Melbourne-based nonprofit medical research institute focused on cardiovascular, metabolic and disease research. Shares WEHI's Parkville precinct, charity/government funding model, and translational research orientation.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research social profiles
Digital presenceWalter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles12 records
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds9 records
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments1 record
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
What does Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research do?
WEHI is a nonprofit medical research institute that conducts fundamental and translational biomedical research across 12 scientific divisions and several collaborative centres focused on cancer, immune health, infection, developmental disorders, and healthy ageing. It delivers research outputs through peer-reviewed publications, biomarker and drug-candidate discoveries (e.g., the MK7602 antimalarial with MSD, BAX inhibitors, anti-bacterial monoclonal antibodies), fee-for-service drug screening via the National Drug Discovery Centre, and clinical translation through hospital partnerships. It is funded primarily by competitive government grants and philanthropic donations and does not sell commercial products.
Is Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research a public or private company?
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research founded?
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research was founded in 1915. It employs 1,001 to 5,000 people.
Where is Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research based?
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research is headquartered in Parkville, Australia, in the Oceania region.
How does Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Government and Competitive Research Grants are the primary driver. The others are philanthropic Donations and Fundraising, licensing and Royalty Income, clinical Trial and Collaborative Research Income and national Drug Discovery Centre Fees.
Who are Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), Francis Crick Institute and Broad Institute. Direct peers are QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, Centenary Institute and Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute.
Does Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research have an API?
No public API is recorded for Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research.
What industry is Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in?
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research's product category is Medical Research. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAIALAF, Translational Medicine & Biomarkers, with a secondary code of HLAAAIAI, Target Identification & Validation Platforms (omics-driven, chemoproteomics, genetic validation). Its NAICS code is 541714 and its SIC code is 8731.