RESOLUTE in her work to improve access to quality medicines worldwide, Michelle McIntosh knows full well this takes time.
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But Professor McIntosh said this time was also vital to getting her work right.
The Loreto College alumna continues to lead Monash University's Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre, which is set to officially open an expansion project to allow the scale-up of manufacturing and clinical trials.
This has been designed to boost opportunities for Victorian projects and Professor McIntosh hoped to introduce more international companies to bring their research and international trials.
At the same time, Professor McIntosh has been close to clinical trial results to be published in the inhaled oxytocin project to protect mothers from postpartum haemorrhage.
These are projects for which Professor McIntosh is in for the long haul.
Her work has been recognised in the BioMelbourne Network with the inspiring leadership award on the network's prestigious women in leadership honour role.
Professor McIntosh acknowledged her work was representative of a bigger collective striving to make a difference. She said the awards were important in shining a spotlight on what was largely a male-dominated sector and recognised the work she was leading mattered.
"We've established a new quality of medicine initiative, recognising the impact poor quality pharmaceuticals can have," Professor McIntosh said. "We focus on the causes of poor quality medicine so we can advocate for better quality and systems of monitoring.
"...Everyone knows there is a lot of poor quality medicines but it is time to stop measuring poor quality and make a difference."
Professor McIntosh said about 15 per cent of antibiotics and antimalarials were deemed poor quality. This predominantly impacted low and middle-income nations.
In contrast, about 50 per cent of maternal healthcare medicines were poor quality.
The inhaled oxytocin project has designed a whistle-like device to deliver the life-saving drug. Previous trials have tested the drug via common medical inhalation devices but the whistle is designed with a heat-stable powdered formula in a single, more accurate measure to be inhaled.
Professor McIntosh told The Courier in 2021 that often people did not realise how commonly women experienced postpartum haemorrhaging. She had said it was infrequent for Australians to die from the condition, due to injectable oxytocin and blood transfusions but Australians could still benefit from the device.
The biggest burden for postpartum haemorrhaging is in sub-Saharan Africa. This condition causes about 70,000 deaths globally each year.
Professor McIntosh said low-resourced settings could be tough to entice pharmaceutical companies to make a difference, usually because there was little motivation for profits.
The more Professor McIntosh looked at maternal health medicines, she said the more she shook her head.
"Universities are well-positioned to continue to influence," Professor McIntosh said. "...Universities' positions are make a global impact to make things better."
