Monash University signs MOU with TGA Academic Outreach Program

Monash University has signed a signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s (TGA) Academic Outreach Program, which fosters collaboration across research, knowledge exchange and education to support the delivery of safe, effective and high-quality medicines in Australia and internationally.

The MOU formalises collaboration in pharmaceutical regulatory science and therapeutics development and was signed by Professor Anthony Lawler — Deputy Secretary of the Health Products Regulation Group and Head of the TGA — and Professor Chris Porter — Director of the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Academic Director of Therapeutics.

“Regulatory science plays a critical role in supporting informed decision-making and helping regulators to respond to an increasingly complex and rapidly evolving environment,” Lawler said. “This program provides valuable opportunities to strengthen engagement, raise awareness and understanding, and encourage collaboration between the TGA and the academic sector.”

Due to the shared objectives of improving regulatory capacity and addressing the prevalence of substandard medicines in the region, Monash said it will continue to collaborate with the TGA’s Indo-Pacific Regulatory Strengthening Program (RSP) through the Monash Quality of Medicines Initiative (QoMI) — the first research activity that will see the Monash QoMI working with the TGA’s RSP to evaluate existing methods and identify new approaches for detecting toxic contaminants in oral liquid medicines such as cough and cold syrups.

“With medicines increasingly sourced through complex global supply chains, often with uneven quality oversight, it is critical that country stakeholders across both the public and private sectors have reliable tools to detect dangerous products before they reach patients,” said Associate Professor Pete Lambert, Director of the Monash Quality of Medicines Initiative.

“Advanced analytical technologies are not always accessible in many settings, particularly in low and middle-income countries, so our focus is on optimising lower-cost, practical detection methods suited to these environments, while also exploring new approaches for rapid and scalable screening.”

Image: (L–R) Associate Professor Pete Lambert, Professor Chris Porter, Nick Henderson, Dr George Vuckovic, Professor Anthony Lawler and Dr Felicity Jameson. Credit: Kelli Morris/Monash University