Population scale mRNA manufacturing

mRNA Victoria is leading the delivery of Moderna’s population-scale mRNA manufacturing facility at Clayton, with capacity to produce up to 100 million vaccine doses per year for diseases including COVID-19, influenza and RSV.

The Moderna Technology Centre – Melbourne, located at Monash University’s Clayton campus, was officially opened by the Premier of Victoria and the federal Minister for Health and Aged Care in December 2024.

The Moderna Technology Centre – Melbourne is the first commercial-scale mRNA manufacturing facility in the Southern Hemisphere. It is also the only Moderna manufacturing site in the world to have end-to-end mRNA manufacturing capabilities – from making vaccines through to packaging the finished drug product onsite, ready to ship across Australia and around the globe.

The facility was completed on schedule and is now operational and producing test-batches of vaccines while awaiting regulatory approval by the independent regulator - the Therapeutic Goods Administrator (TGA). Pending regulatory approval, Moderna will commence production in early 2025.

The Victorian Government’s partnership with Moderna involves a range of initiatives to build the local mRNA ecosystem, including:

• Moderna’s Regional Research Centre for Respiratory Medicines and Tropical Diseases, launched in 2023. The Centre drives collaboration with local research institutions to develop next generation mRNA vaccines and medicines. The first partnership through the Centre is the Monash-Moderna Quantitative Pharmacology Accelerator (MMQPA), which uses advanced computer models to make the development of new mRNA medicines safer and more efficient.

• Moderna’s Headquarters for Australia, New Zealand, South-East Asia, and Oceania in Melbourne, opened in August 2023. The new headquarters is a significant commitment by Moderna to Victoria’s goal of becoming the regional hub for mRNA research, manufacturing, clinical trials, and workforce training.

Moderna’s investment into Victoria builds on Moderna’s existing research collaborations through the mRNA Platform Incubator Network (mPIN) to advance mRNA medicine, foster scientific excellence in clinical translation in Australia and further the therapeutic potential of the mRNA platform. The Incubator Network has agreements with leading Victorian research institutes including the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity.

For more information about mRNA Victoria and mRNA manufacturing opportunities, please contact us via email mRNAvictoria@ecodev.vic.gov.au or follow us on LinkedIn.