Moderna opens Melbourne research centre, partners with Monash

Victorian Minister for Industry and Innovation Ben Carroll this week opened Moderna’s Regional Centre for Respiratory Medicines and Tropical Diseases in Melbourne, which is set to unlock new advances and boost Victoria’s mRNA industry.

The regional research centre sits alongside Moderna’s Melbourne-based headquarters for Australia, New Zealand, South-East Asia & Oceania, also opened this week by the Minister. The new headquarters provides a base of operations for Moderna to partner with Victoria’s medical research institutes and clinical trial networks, meaning Victorians will be some of the first people in the world to trial new mRNA medicines for a range of health conditions.

Moderna has also announced the first of many collaborations with Victorian research institutes as part of the company’s investment in the state, in the form of the Monash-Moderna Quantitative Pharmacology Accelerator (MMQPA). The result of a partnership between the regional research centre and Monash University, the program will help fast-track the development of mRNA medicines for diseases by using advanced computer models to predict the effects of treatments. It will be based at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS) and has been established through a $3 million investment by Moderna and substantial in-kind contributions from Moderna and Monash.

Quantitative pharmacology uses mathematical computer models to help describe and predict how medicines will work in the human body. Much like mRNA technology, quantitative pharmacology is a transformative science which has significantly improved the speed, efficiency and safety of the drug development process. As such, the Monash-Moderna collaboration will enable Australia to accelerate the development of new safe and effective mRNA medicines for a broad range of diseases by harnessing quantitative pharmacology systems to make the process more efficient.

“Quantitative pharmacology is hugely impactful across the entire drug discovery pipeline — from the early stages right through to regulatory submission and even analysis of real-world performance of medicines,” said Monash Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Enterprise and Engagement) and Senior Vice-President Doron Ben-Meir. “This collaboration offers the potential to create a world-class and globally rare mRNA quantitative pharmacology capability based right here in Melbourne.”

The MMQPA will enable the Monash–Moderna team to tap into globally derived preclinical and clinical data from proprietary Moderna programs and insights from cutting-edge mRNA scientific data. As noted by MIPS Director Professor Chris Porter, “The MMQPA complements Monash’s ever-evolving RNA and quantitative pharmacology ecosystem, which continues to play a significant role in placing Australia and Monash at the forefront of drug discovery, development and innovation in new medicines for a broad range of diseases.”

The new headquarters and research centre comprise just part of Moderna’s investment in Victoria, with the company’s mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility currently under construction within the Monash Technology Precinct. This is set to be the first mRNA production facility in the Southern Hemisphere and the first to be located on a university campus, complementing Monash’s own RNA ecosystem that will lead to the rapid development of life-saving vaccines and therapeutic treatments.

Image credit: iStock.com/ArtemisDiana