Sign In
Australia; VIC; ACT
Media release
From:
Victoria Makes Australia’s First mRNA Vaccine Candidate
30 November 2021
Victorian scientists and manufacturers have created Australia’s first mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate – Australia’s first ever mRNA drug product – in just five months, enabling clinical trials to begin in the new year.
Minister for Innovation, Medical Research and the Digital Economy Jaala Pulford today announced 450 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate have been produced in Boronia, enabling 150 people to take part in Phase 1 clinical trials run by the Doherty Institute, with results expected later in 2022.
The Andrews Labor Government invested $5 million to enable manufacture of the vaccine candidate, with dedicated equipment shipped to manufacturer IDT Australia from Canada. The machine processed nanoparticles into final liquid drug form, sterilised the product and filled vials with mRNA vaccine.
Victoria is one of the few places in the world with the capability to develop and manufacture mRNA therapeutics and vaccines and the mRNA-based vaccine breakthrough demonstrates Victoria’s leadership in the mRNA sector.
The project has been led by mRNA Victoria in partnership with Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS), the Doherty Institute and IDT Australia – a landmark collaboration between Victoria’s renowned medical research and manufacturing sectors.
The Labor Government established mRNA Victoria to drive the establishment of a sovereign mRNA manufacturing industry and earlier this year supported a number of proposals from Victorian industry and consortia as part of the Commonwealth’s Approach to Market (ATM) on mRNA manufacturing capability.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Innovation, Medical Research and the Digital Economy Jaala Pulford
“This is an Australian first that confirms Victoria as a leader in mRNA therapeutics and manufacturing – it is an incredible achievement to have made an mRNA vaccine candidate that is ready for clinical trials.”
“We’re serious about developing our mRNA manufacturing capacity and doing it quickly as we can, because it will save lives.”
Quote attributable to Doherty Institute Head of Vaccine and Immunisation Research Group Professor Terry Nolan
“This is a major milestone in Australia’s ability to manufacture home-grown COVID-19 mRNA vaccines and we are excited to commence Phase 1 clinical trials of this candidate, along with the protein vaccine candidate developed by the Doherty Institute, in the coming months.”
Quote attributable to Monash University Professor of Pharmaceutical Biology Colin Pouton
“We have worked with determination and in close collaboration with IDT to develop the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate – reaching this milestone demonstrates that the skills and experience to make mRNA products are available in Victoria.”
Quote attributable IDT Australia CEO Dr David Sparling
“We’re honored to be a part of this collaboration. We believe this product will be the first locally developed mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate and the first locally manufactured cGMP mRNA drug product.”
Expert Reaction
These comments have been collated by the Science Media Centre to provide a variety of expert perspectives on this issue. Feel free to use these quotes in your stories. Views expressed are the personal opinions of the experts named. They do not represent the views of the SMC or any other organisation unless specifically stated.
Associate Professor Archa Fox is from the University of Western Australia. She is also president of the RNA Network of Australasia.
mRNA vaccines have been proven to be both quick to design and highly effective at preventing severe Covid 19 disease. Because of the high cost of buying in vaccine from overseas, and the potential to be at the back of the queue for future pandemics, we urgently need to build expertise, capacity and capability in Australia to make mRNA vaccines and RNA therapeutics more broadly.
This announcement by MIPS/Doherty/IDT is a significant step forwards towards creating our first home-grown Australian mRNA vaccine. My understanding is that the sequence was designed and tested at the preclinical stage in Australia. Next, the mRNA was manufactured overseas. Finally, the mRNA was sent to IDT Australia to be put into lipid nanoparticles and dispensed into vials, ready for the phase 1 clinical trials. I wish the team the best of luck for smooth progress and good results through the clinical trials.
Professor Thomas Preiss is the Leader of the RNA Biology Group in the College of Health & Medicine at the Australian National University
This announcement represents a real watershed moment for our country as governments, industry and academia are working towards making an Australian RNA therapeutics industry of international reach a reality.
We might well see from this, a new mRNA COVID-19 vaccine come to market. This alone would be an important development as we are faced with an ongoing demand for vaccines to fight the pandemic.
Equally importantly, RNA has plenty of potential as a therapeutic beyond vaccines. The breakthrough in Melbourne then shows us that, as a country, we have the wherewithal to build an RNA R&D ecosystem that can efficiently develop these new drugs. The hope now is that we will furthermore put them into local production and service a growing global market.
