Medibank expands funding to Brisbane as Emyria accelerates a national rollout - Mental Health
- Noel Ong
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Announcement
Medibank Private has expanded its multi-year funding agreement with Emyria Limited (ASX: EMD) to support screened and eligible customers accessing Empax programs for Treatment-Resistant Depression (TRD) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at Avive Clinic Brisbane (Figure 1). Clinic fit-out and regulatory preparations are underway, with treatment commencement targeted for Q4 CY2025. This marks Emyria’s first insurer-backed program on Australia’s east coast and advances the Company’s national growth strategy.
Figure 1: Avive Clinic (QLD) (source: EMD)
Emyria Executive Chairman, Greg Hutchinson, commented:
“We’re pleased to extend our agreement with Medibank and bring our insurer-funded Empax programs to Queensland. This represents an important step forward for patients, clinicians, and the broader health system.
Our goal has always been to make world-class, evidence-based mental health care accessible to every Australian who needs it. By integrating insurer funding into high-quality hospital programs, we’re significantly reducing financial barriers that have historically limited access to comprehensive trauma and mood disorder treatments.
With funded programs now operating across two states, Emyria is demonstrating that our data-driven model of care can scale nationally. This expansion will enable more Australians to access effective treatment for complex mental health conditions while contributing valuable data to help modernise and strengthen Australia’s healthcare system.”
Highlights - A Mental Health Solution
(Figure 2)
Funding now covers Brisbane (first east-coast site): Eligible Medibank customers admitted to Avive Clinic Brisbane can access Empax’s psychiatrist-led programs for TRD and PTSD under a 24-month agreement (standard 90-day termination clause). Treatments are hospital-delivered, insurer-backed, and designed to reduce out-of-pocket barriers. Go-live targeted for Q4 CY2025.
Program scale and depth: Similar courses of care delivered by Emyria are typically valued between A$20,000–A$30,000 per patient, reflecting structured, multidisciplinary care delivered in licensed hospital settings.
Proven clinical model with durable outcomes: In Emyria’s real-world PTSD program, >60% of patients no longer met diagnostic criteria at follow-up, ~80% achieved clinically significant improvement, and the program recorded 0% drop-out—comparable to Phase 3 benchmarks out to 6 months. A work-related PTSD cohort recorded a 10/10 return-to-work rate at 6 months.
Market opportunity: Addressable segments include adults with difficult-to-treat PTSD (~585k SAM; indicative ~A$33k per treatment) and TRD (~411k SAM; indicative ~A$22k per treatment). Early target cohorts span privately insured patients, veterans, and workers’ compensation pathways.
Operational moat taking shape: Emyria reports progress across insurer funding, hospital partners, fit-for-purpose facilities, authorised prescribers, trained therapists, and secure drug supply—key delivery barriers that support scaling.
National growth track: Perth programs are active and Brisbane is being established; the rollout plan anticipates capacity expansion (beds and dosing days per week) and additional east-coast sites under consideration.
Figure 2: Emyria at a glance (source: EMD)
What’s new on the ground (Brisbane)
Scope: Medibank funding now applies at Avive Clinic Brisbane for eligible TRD and PTSD patients under the Empax model.
Timing: Fit-out and regulatory prep underway; treatments expected before year-end (Q4 CY2025).
Significance: Validates the scalability of Empax across multiple hospital partners and jurisdictions using insurer-backed frameworks.
Clinical Model
(Figure 3)
Empax combines hospital-based dosing with ~90 hours of supervised psychotherapy per PTSD course (delivered across screening, multi-day dosing cycles, and structured follow-up). Emyria reports a per-cycle cost framework (~A$10,000 per cycle; PTSD typically three cycles) and shows case-study trajectory improvements on PCL-5 beyond 6 months.
Figure 3: Treatment model flow (source: EMD)
Demand context (PTSD & TRD)
PTSD: ~1.5m adults; ~585k estimated serviceable for MDMA-AT; indicative ~A$33k per full course (3 cycles). Early targets: privately insured patients, veterans, and workers’ compensation.
Figure 4: Treatment model flow (source: EMD)
TRD: ~1.1m adults with major depression; ~411k estimated serviceable for psilocybin-AT; indicative ~A$22k per full course (2 cycles).
Figure 5: Treatment model flow (source: EMD)
System spend: Large payors (private insurers, DVA, workers’ comp) collectively outlay significant sums annually on mental-health-related care, highlighting the need for scalable, evidence-based models.
Operations & Rollout
Moat: Third-party funding, licensed hospital environments, authorised prescribers, trained therapists, secure drug supply.
Figure 6: Operational Moat (source: EMD)
Capacity build: Perth clinic expansion (beds × days/week), Brisbane beds in preparation; additional east-coast partners being assessed.
Milestones: Expanded funded programs to include Depression treatment; revenues from private-health funding have commenced.
Governance & Team
Emyria’s board includes clinical-services leadership, biopharma development, health-IT strategy, and payer/policy expertise, aligning with its hospital-integrated, insurer-backed care model.
Samso Concluding Comments
Emyria’s Brisbane expansion under the Medibank agreement is a good next step in translating insurer-backed, hospital-delivered mental health programs beyond WA. The value proposition is the funded access pathways, a structured clinical model with reported real-world outcomes, and a national footprint that is now forming east-coast-first. The near-term catalyst is execution—clinic readiness and commencement in Q4 CY2025—followed by utilisation ramp and additional site partners.
Figure 6: The EMD share prices chart as of 27th October 2025 (source: commsec)
From an investing point of view, EMD is looking promising, and the market is looking to be supporting the path forward (Figure 6). The theory is straightforward: a payer-validated model expanding into a second state, with near-term delivery milestones and a national rollout thesis to test. Keep an eye on this story as it's only an AUD $40M market capitalisation company. Success in this area will no doubt be worth a lot more.
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