Global pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Moderna has opened its Regional Research Centre and Headquarters in Melbourne, which will unlock new advances and boost Victoria’s mRNA industry.
The Regional Research Centre sits alongside Moderna’s Headquarters for Australia, New Zealand, South-East Asia & Oceania in Melbourne, opened this week by minister for industry and innovation Ben Carroll and a delegation of Moderna executives from Boston.
The new headquarters provides a base of operations for Moderna to partner with Victoria’s world-leading medical research institutes and clinical trial networks, ensuring Victorians will be some of the first people in the world to trial new mRNA medicines for a range of health conditions.
The first strategic collaboration for the Moderna Regional Research Centre for Respiratory Medicines and Tropical Diseases is a $3 Million Quantitative Pharmacology Accelerator with the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS) in Parkville.
The Monash-Moderna Quantitative Pharmacology Accelerator (MMQPA) will help fast-track the development of mRNA medicines for diseases by using advanced computer models to predict the effects of treatments.
The MMQPA will be the first of many collaborations with Victorian research institutes as part of Moderna’s investment in Victoria through their Asia Pacific Regional Research Centre.
The Headquarters and Regional Research Centre comprise part of Moderna’s investment in Victoria, with their mRNA Vaccine manufacturing facility in Clayton under construction – which once complete will be capable of producing 100 million vaccine doses annually.
The Victorian state government invested $12.3 million in the Victorian Budget 2023/24 to develop mRNA technology and builds on the $1.3 billion investment in medical research since 2014.
Victoria is responsible for almost 60 per cent of Australia’s pharmaceutical exports – making it the state’s highest-value advanced manufactured export – and the biotech sector supports more than 100,000 full-time jobs.
“The establishment of Moderna’s Research Centre and headquarters in Victoria sends a strong signal to the world that we are global leaders in mRNA research and development – driving innovation to change lives and create jobs for years into the future,” minister Carroll said.
Director of Moderna’s Asia-Pacific Regional Research Centre for Respiratory Medicines and Tropical Diseases Dr Craig Rayner said, “By being embedded within a world-leading research and clinician community, we see huge potential in being able to innovate and accelerate life-changing mRNA medicines to patients, together.”
Monash University deputy vice-chancellor (Enterprise and Engagement) and senior vice-president Doron Ben-Meir said, “This partnership between Moderna and Monash complements Monash’s ever-evolving RNA and quantitative pharmacology ecosystem, which continues to play a significant role in placing Australia at the forefront of drug discovery, development and innovation in new medicines for a broad range of diseases.”
.jpg)
