mRNA Vaccines for Future Pandemic to Be Produced in Queensland

Researchers hope to ‘build the next generation of mRNA vaccines’ in Australia.

Associate Professor Tim Mercer And Researcher Dae Jong Han-min. University of Queensland

mRNA vaccines and therapies for clinical trials will be produced at a laboratory in Queensland to prepare for a potential future pandemic.

The University of Queensland said “demand for mRNA continues to surge” and work is already underway at the lab.

Researchers see this lab as an important step to prepare for pandemics and capture economic growth in the mRNA industry.

The mRNA-producing lab is known as the “BASE” facility, Australia’s leading provider of mRNA for research and pilot studies.

The researchers are planning to use mRNA made at the facility in phase one clinical trials in the year 2024.

mRNA Vaccines for Clinical Trials

The mRNA will be used for the “next generation” of mRNA vaccines, Associate Professor Tim Mercer, director of BASE, noted.

“Having the ability to produce mRNA for clinical trials allows us to build the next generation of mRNA vaccines and therapies here in Australia,” he said.

“It is the key step for our pandemic preparedness, and also us capturing the value of the economic growth of the mRNA industry.”

BASE researcher Hannah Tompkins. University of Queensland

mRNA vaccines, developed by Pfizer and Moderna, were approved for use in Australia during the  COVID-19 pandemic.

The federal government is providing $4.3 million ($2.8 million) of funding via the Medical Research Future Fund national Critical Research Infrastructure scheme for the Queensland laboratory.

University of Queensland and global healthcare company Sanofi are each delivering $1 million, while the Queensland Government is providing $250,000 for the project.

$107 Billion Industry

The mRNA industry was worth $55 billion in 2022 and could nearly double to be worth $107 billion by the year 2030, Dr Mercer noted.

“This centre will help ensure the world’s biggest biotech companies continue to turn to Australian researchers at UQ when they’re looking to make what could be the next medical advance. We aim to begin manufacturing mRNA for phase one clinical trials in 2024,” Mr. Mercer said.

Deputy director Seth Cheetham said the BASE facility “provides experimental mRNA vaccines and therapies to researchers all around Australia.”

“This technology has been key in our battle against COVID-19, and is showing great promise to combat other infectious diseases such as cancer and autoimmunity.”

Deputy Premier Steven Miles speaks at a press conference at Parliament house in Brisbane, Australia, on Aug. 6, 2021. Jono Searle/Getty Images

University of Queensland vice-chancellor Professor Deborah Terry also highlighted that producing “clinical trial quality mRNA” in Australia was a “crucial step” to prepare for pandemics and realise the economic benefits of research.

“This investment builds on the Translation Science Hub (TSH) partnership announced by the Queensland government and Sanofi in December, in which UQ is a partner,” Ms. Terry said.

Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles, who served as health minister in 2020, said Queensland is leading the way in vaccine development and biomedical research.

“Queensland is home to world-class research facilities and a highly-skilled workforce driving the development of new vaccines and healthcare breakthroughs,” Mr. Miles said.

Further commenting on the project, Sanofi managing director Iris Depaz said the “best way to truly realise the promise of mRNA technology is for the scientific community to have easy access to high-grade mRNA to use, test, and learn.”