What is in the Government’s Health Research for a Future Made in Australia Package?

This week, Minister Mark Butler announced a $1.89 billion investment into the Australian medical sector, describing it in a media release as a “once in a generation transformation of health and medical research in Australia.”

The ‘Health Research for a Future Made in Australia’ package features several eye-watering investment numbers, including:

• $1.4b for new research via the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF):
  • A new 10-Year Low Survival Cancers Mission
  • A new 10-Year Reducing Health Inequities Mission
  • Continuing existing streams of lifechanging MRFF funding
  • More research into three health priorities:
    • Women’s health.
    • Chronic pain.
    • Alcohol and other drug treatment.
  • $411m to support 229 researchers to tackle the nation’s greatest health challenges, through the NHMRC.
  • $62m to support 26 clinical trials from around Australia, through the MRFF.
  • $18.8m to progress the National One Stop Shop for clinical trials and health research.

While a large portion of the investment appears to be extensions of existing MRFF pathways, the addition of new missions and targeted investments into priority areas will be welcome news to many across the medical sector.

In addition, after consistent advocacy from Australia’s health sector, the Government has paired this funding with the announcement that they will develop a National Health and Medical Research Strategy.

The National Strategy will cover the entire sector and include all levels of government, industry, philanthropy, academia and consumers.

Advocates say this will provide a National One Stop Shop that will give Australians early access to potential lifesaving and life changing treatments, by streamlining the process to conduct a clinical trial via a single national platform and set of regulations, clearing out the fragmented state-by-state framework governing clinical trials.

“Australia’s health and medical research sector punches well above its weight. We are ranked 7th in the world and the new national strategy will help our researchers continue to outperform,” Minister Butler said.

“Better alignment and coordination of the MRFF and NHMRC funds will achieve the best of both and strengthen Australia’s world-leading research capability to change and improve the health and lives of Australians.

“The National One Stop Shop will remove needless red tape and help end the postcode lottery in access to clinical trials, to make it easier for Australian researchers and patients to conduct and take part in potentially lifechanging health research.”

According to Department of Health data, Australia currently has more than 1,200 biotech companies, 55 medical research institutes and 40 medical research focused universities.

More information can be found at the Department of Health website.