Australia's Monash University and American firm Moderna have announced the establishment of the Monash-Moderna Quantitative Pharmacology Accelerator (MMQPA), a five-year programme which aims to drive advancements in mRNA medicines, including therapeutics and vaccines, through a $3 million investment by Moderna and substantial in-kind contributions to the collaboration from Moderna and Monash.

Victoria’s Minister for Industry and Innovation, Ben Carroll, visited the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS) in Parkville, where the programme will be headquartered, and met with Monash mRNA and quantitative pharmacology researchers, along with international Moderna delegates.

The MMQPA has been established through the newly established, Melbourne-based Moderna Research Centre for Respiratory Medicines and Tropical Diseases.

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.

The MMQPA is the inaugural R&D Accelerator initiative from Moderna’s Global R&D organisation in Australia. The Programme will enable the Monash/Moderna team to tap into globally derived preclinical and clinical data from proprietary Moderna programmes and world-first insights from cutting edge mRNA scientific data.

Image caption- Chris Bral (Moderna) and Doron Ben-Meir (Monash) signing the MMQPA agreement