Introduction

The Institute of Drug Technology was a university-owned not-for-profit organisation which operated as part of the College of Pharmacy in Victoria since 1975. It primarily gave academics and industry the chance to conduct research and development together. In 1986, then a professor, Dr Graeme L. Blackman led a management buy-out of the assets of this consulting business. The company was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1988 as IDT.

From 1988 to the early 1990s, there was a move away from an academic orientation and towards a manufacturing focus. This was because the company was commissioned to make active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) under long-term manufacturing contracts. As a result, the company integrated forward from a licensor of technology to a production oriented company.

The company has a number of modern manufacturing facilities and laboratories in Melbourne and is licensed by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients. IDT is one of the few Australian-owned biotechnology companies that have secured FDA approval, which gives it access to the large and lucrative pharmaceutical market in the United States.