SPHERE responds to National Health and Medical Research Strategy announcement
SPHERE has welcomed the Federal Government’s announcement to commit to a National Strategy for Health and Medical Research. The Hon Mark Butler MP, Minister for Health and Aged Care, announced the new “Health Research for a Future Made in Australia” package, which includes a total investment of $1.89 billion.
SPHERE Executive Director, Professor Chris White has praised the national strategy, stating, "This commitment marks a significant step forward in addressing health challenges our communities have told us are critical and advancing medical research in Australia."
As part of the strategy, several key initiatives have been outlined:
$1.4b for new research via the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF)
This includes a new focus on reducing healthy system inequality, with the creation of two new 10-year Missions for research and new targeted priorities.
The 10-Year Low Survival Cancers Mission aims to improve outcomes for individuals with cancers where the five-year survival rate is currently less than 50%. This includes common cancers such as pancreatic, lung, and liver cancers.
Additionally, the 10-Year Reducing Health Inequities Mission seeks to enhance access to quality health services for priority populations, including First Nations or diverse communities, individuals with disabilities, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
“In Australia everyone deserves a fair go. Health, like wealth is not equitably distributed and we endorse Minister Butler’s commitment to reducing the imbalance and inequities in our priority populations. This is likely to include the spectrum of psychosocial and physical determinants of disorders that afflict them,” says Professor White.
Focused Research Initiatives
An immediate investment of $53.6 million over four years will target three key health priorities. This includes research into women's health issues such as menopause, pregnancy loss, and infertility, as well as innovative treatments for chronic pain, and alcohol and other drug treatment.
"SPHERE’s recent submission to the Senate Inquiry into issues relating to perimenopause and menopause addressed one of these key priorities, specifically the urgent need for a population health approach to perimenopause and menopause. To now see menopause addressed as one of the key national priorities is reassuring for the impact our collective efforts as a community engaged research translation centre can make. This reaffirms our commitment to adopt a similar community engaged, evidence informed response to the other key health priorities announced by Minister Butler today. These targeted investments will drive innovation and contribute to significant advancements in healthcare, addressing critical gaps in research and an evidence base for new treatments," says Professor White.
$18.8 Million for the National One Stop Shop for Clinical Trials and Health Research
To streamline the process of conducting clinical trials and accessing health research, $18.8 million will be allocated to progress the National One Stop Shop initiative.
The National One Stop Shop aims to provide Australians with early access to potential life-saving treatments by establishing a unified platform and regulatory framework for conducting clinical trials. Currently, the fragmented regulatory landscape across states increases the burden on research organisations and hampers interstate collaboration.
"The National One Stop Shop will remove needless red tape and help end the postcode lottery in access to clinical trials, making it easier for Australian researchers and patients to participate in potentially life-changing health research," said Hon Mark Butler, MP.
“Nothing worth doing on this scale will ever be easy but clinical trials are the cornerstone of a robust pipeline of new treatments that are being developed for a plethora of common and rare diseases in Australia,” says Professor White.
“Access to clinical trials is itself an issue of inequity with regional, linguistic and cultural differences influencing patient informed participation and benefit realisation. An integrated federated data driven one stop shop should be part of a national initiative to address it and we endorse the minister’s willingness to allocate significant resources to address it.”