The COVID Vaccines & Clinical trial of an Australian-developed Vaccine

With the COVID vaccination program now in full swing in Australia have you considered what is the “magic ingredient” in that half or third of a millilitre of liquid that was just injected into your arm?

The daily News is filled with updates on COVID case numbers and vaccination percentages, and the names of pharmaceutical companies are becoming part of the national dialogue …  AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, Novavax, Johnson & Johnson … with much debate on the relative merits of the COVID vaccines produced by these companies and the choices that individuals are making on which one they would prefer to receive (or not). Also debated is the use of a “new” mRNA technology to make a number of these vaccines, plus surprise at how quickly the vaccines were developed from the time of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak to the time first jabs were being made into peoples arms.

We are very fortunate to have Prof Colin Pouton agree to talk to us about these vaccines; how they were developed, what are the differences between them and how recent mRNA developments may represent a quantum shift in the way future vaccines (and other therapeutics) are developed.

Also we are very excited to be able to hear from Colin about the work that he and his research group are doing in collaboration with the Peter Doherty Institute in taking the first Australian-developed COVID-19 mRNA vaccine into a Phase 1 clinical trial in just a few weeks time.

Colin moved from the University of Bath (UK) to Monash University in 2001 to take up the Chair and Head of Department of Pharmaceutical Biology. Over the past five years he has been Head of Drug Delivery, Disposition and Dynamics (D4) at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS) which is ranked #2 in the world for research in pharmacy and pharmacology.

This is a very rare insight into the science behind what has been our most significant life event – you really can’t miss it!