MBA Lawyers throw their support behind the Malaria Vaccine Project

Graham Jones AM (left) and Anton Richardson (right)

MBA Lawyers, a long established and well-respected law firm based on the Gold Coast, has signed a memorandum of understanding to become a major corporate sponsor of the Malaria Vaccine Project.

Established in March 2017, the Malaria Vaccine Project is a partnership between Rotary District 9640 and Griffith University’s Institute for Glycomics which aims to raise funds to support the Institute’s world-first human clinical trials of a whole parasite blood-stage malaria vaccine.

There are approximately 3.2 billion people living in malaria endemic countries worldwide and of the 500,000 sufferers who die each year, 80 per cent are young children who are not strong enough to fight off the killer parasite. If proven successful, this vaccine has the potential to globally eradicate the deadly disease.

The corporate sponsorship was celebrated at the Institute for Glycomics with the official signing of the memorandum of understanding between MBA Lawyers and the Malaria Vaccine Project committee.

“This year, MBA Lawyers proudly celebrates its 50th anniversary. We are passionate about supporting our Gold Coast community through various initiatives and contributions to local groups. When we heard about the Malaria Vaccine Project, we couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate our golden anniversary and continue that support,” said Clayton Glenister, Managing Partner at MBA Lawyers.

MBA Lawyers will begin the sponsorship by raising funds for the Malaria Vaccine Project through their upcoming MBA Lawyers ‘50 Years Young’ gala dinner. Their goals, however, are more extensive than fundraising.

“We’d like to encourage other corporate groups on the Gold Coast to get behind the Institute for Glycomics and this malaria vaccine candidate which has been created at Griffith University, right here on the Gold Coast. We see ourselves as a lighthouse for a corporate consortium that will make this history-making scientific endeavour a reality,” said Glenister.

PDG Graham Jones AM, Chair of the Malaria Vaccine Project said, “Our committee welcomes MBA Lawyers as a major corporate sponsor for this project and is excited by its passion to bring other corporate sponsors on board. The timing is perfect as we envisage clinical trials beginning to save lives in endemic countries by 2021, providing we can meet our $2 million target to complete the Australian version of the trials this year.”

Professor Michael Good AO, Anton Richardson, and Graham Jones AM

Partner at MBA Lawyers, Anton Richardson, also a Rotarian President, was enthusiastic about the new partnership. “We have always been community-minded, but we wanted to take on a larger humanitarian project that would impact people’s lives and build new hope. The Malaria Vaccine Project has all the hallmarks for that; I cannot imagine hundreds of thousands of children born into this world every year without any hope of ever walking, kicking a soccer ball or going to school. I am thrilled and very grateful to all of the MBA Lawyers Partners and my colleagues for endorsing this proposal.”

“Since its establishment in 2017, well over $1 million has been raised for the Malaria Vaccine Project. This new partnership with MBA Lawyers is exciting and will undoubtedly help us raise desperately needed funds for and awareness of our malaria vaccine trial,” said Professor Michael Good AO, Principal Research Leader at the Institute for Glycomics.

“Our ultimate goal is to progress our malaria vaccine candidate from the Gold Coast to the rest of world, especially to those malaria endemic countries where it’s needed most,” said Institute for Glycomics Director, Professor Mark von Itzstein AO. “To achieve this goal, funding and philanthropic donations from our local community are vitally important so we are extremely grateful to MBA Lawyers for backing the Malaria Vaccine Project.”

To find out more about the Malaria Vaccine Project, visit https://malariavaccineproject.com/