Australia's mRNA revolution is accelerating drug development
The Scientist has profiled the Australian mRNA sector and the way local manufacturing capacity, a comparatively fast route into Phase I trials and a growing translational research base are shortening the road from an mRNA design to a first-in-human study. Hub Director Associate Professor Seth Cheetham and PhD scholar Bettina Dietmair both feature in the article.
A/Prof. Cheetham told the magazine that the decisive factor is having manufacturing capability sitting alongside the clinical trials system, so that a candidate does not stall between the two. The National Biologics Facility, which he directs, produces non-GMP material for experimental medicines and supports groups taking early-stage candidates toward clinical development.
The article places that capability in a wider national picture that now includes commercial-scale mRNA manufacturing at Moderna's facility in Victoria, the research base at UQ's Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, and the collaborative network built through the mRNA cancer vaccine hub.
Bettina Dietmair describes how narrow the options for mRNA delivery were when she started, and the work now under way to move beyond the liver. Her project uses bispecific antibodies to steer lipid nanoparticles to chosen cell types, which is the same targeting problem the Hub is solving for cancer vaccines and for mRNA therapies in autoimmune and genetic disease.
The applications discussed range from personalised cancer vaccines, including the paediatric brain cancer trial the Hub supports, through to autoimmune disorders and inherited conditions.
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