BioNTech, one of the world\u2019s two leading mRNA companies, will open a research and development hub in Victoria, the company and the Victorian government announced Friday morning.<\/p>\n
Despite its status as a global mRNA giant, few Australians have heard of BioNTech. That\u2019s because Australia has chosen to label the COVID-19 vaccine it produces as the \u201cPfizer vaccine\u201d \u2013 rather than its full name, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.<\/p>\n
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Technicians at work in a BioNTech lab in Germany.<\/span>Credit:<\/span>Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n The announcement means Victoria now has both Moderna and BioNTech embedded in the state \u2013 marking the state as a global mRNA hub, independent scientists said.<\/p>\n But the pair will make odd bedfellows. Moderna, the US mRNA giant, launched a lawsuit against BioNTech in August alleging its COVID-19 vaccine infringes Moderna\u2019s patents. However, on Friday the company released a statement welcoming BioNTech\u2019s move to Melbourne.<\/p>\n BioNTech\u2019s in-principle partnership with the state is to establish a clinical-scale mRNA manufacturing facility in Melbourne.<\/p>\n The size of 12 shipping containers, the facility will be used to make small doses of mRNA therapies for clinical trials.<\/p>\n BioNTech\u2019s investment, along with Moderna\u2019s work on building a full-scale mRNA manufacturing plant, will give Victoria end-to-end mRNA manufacturing facilities, allowing scientists to develop, trial and then make mRNA therapies at scale.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s great news for Australia and our biotech and pharma sector,\u201d said Professor Archa Fox, from the University of WA and chair of the RNA Network of Australia.<\/p>\n \u201cGiven that BioNTech is Europe\u2019s leading mRNA Company, and Moderna is the leading one in the US, it is significant that both are not only setting up manufacturing in Australia, but will also be doing R[esearch] and D[evelopment] here.\u201d<\/p>\n Friday\u2019s announcement was held at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, signalling the focus of this current investment would not be on infectious viruses but cancer.<\/p>\n BioNTech hopes to develop \u201ccancer vaccines\u201d, which could be tailored to a patient\u2019s particular tumour characteristics.<\/p>\n This takes us closer to establishing a region-leading mRNA manufacturing industry here in Victoria.<\/p>\n Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas said a \u201cbig deal \u2013 a really big deal\u201d had been struck with BioNTech.<\/p>\n \u201cNot because it\u2019s some white-shoe spiv talking about the next big thing. This is a major coup for the state of Victoria,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis takes us closer to establishing a region-leading mRNA manufacturing industry here in Victoria.\u201d<\/p>\n BioNTech will install its so-called \u201cBiontainer\u201d facility in Melbourne.<\/p>\n The facility is essentially a small modular factory that can both make mRNA therapies and fill them into vials, all at a high-enough quality to be usable for humans.<\/p>\n But \u201cBioNTech is more than just an mRNA company,\u201d the company\u2019s chief operations officer Dr Sierk Poetting said.<\/p>\n He pointed to clinical trials of antibody and small-molecule therapies that are also underway.<\/p>\n