Moderna appoints founding member Dr Tucek-Szabo to steer ANZ business

Carolyn Tucek-Szabo has been appointed General Manager for Moderna Australia and New Zealand, succeeding Michael Azrak, who has transitioned to lead the Oceania business at Novo Nordisk.

Dr Tucek-Szabo brings more than three decades of leadership experience spanning academia, biotechnology and the pharmaceutical sector, underpinned by extensive scientific and regulatory expertise. Since joining Moderna in 2021 as Head of Regulatory Affairs and as a member of the company’s founding team in Australia, she has been instrumental in establishing its regional footprint and shaping its regulatory strategy.

Reflecting on her appointment, Dr Tucek-Szabo said, “I’m proud to step into this role, having been part of Moderna’s journey in Australia from the beginning. Our focus remains on advancing our pipeline through local supply, while continuing to strengthen our collaborations across government, industry and the research community to contribute to Australia’s health security and innovation ecosystem.”

Her leadership comes amid scrutiny of the agreement underpinning Moderna’s expansion in Australia. The company negotiated the country’s first large-scale mRNA manufacturing facility through a $2 billion deal struck with the Morrison government in May 2021.

Under the confidential 10-year Morrison-Hunt agreement, the federal government committed to a streamlined vaccine procurement process exclusively for Moderna’s pandemic and non-pandemic vaccines outside the National Immunisation Program (NIP). The arrangement has drawn criticism from independent MPs, including Dr Monique Ryan, Member for Kooyong.

“It is a commercial leg-up for one company in what is a very competitive non-pandemic vaccine market. The government’s arrangement with Moderna is the biggest change to vaccine procurement in Australian history,” emphasised Dr Ryan.

“It gives one single company access to expedited procurement processes, remembering that it takes on average 3.8 years for [funding] new vaccines in this country. In doing so, this agreement disadvantages other vaccine manufacturers. It creates a disincentive for other companies to invest or expand here.”

Dr Helen Haines, Member for Indi, criticised the lack of transparency surrounding the deal.

“The parliament and the public do not know what Australia is paying, how much vaccine we are guaranteed or on what terms, and that’s simply not good enough. This was a decision made by the Morrison government, but, critically, this secrecy continues, now, into this Labor government,” Dr Haines stressed.

“The government has committed to annual minimum purchases of Moderna’s vaccines…[and] proposed an independent health technology assessment pathway, but this pathway has not yet been established. So one multinational pharmaceutical company has been granted a regulatory light touch, but this light touch won’t be available to Australian firms or, indeed, to other vaccine producers. Why?”

Despite these debates, Moderna has committed to substantial domestic investment. The company plans to invest an estimated $266 million in national mRNA research and development between 2023 and 2033. The funding is expected to support research partnerships, clinical trials and workforce development, generating an additional $267 million in economic value over the decade, including $117 million in Victoria alone.

In reimagining healthcare across the entire patient journey, Health Industry Hub^TM is the only one-stop-hub uniting the diversity of the Pharma, MedTech, Diagnostics & Biotech sectors to inspire meaningful change.

The Health Industry Hub^TM content is copyright protected. Access is available under individual user licenses. Please click here to subscribe and visit T&Cs here.