Australian scientists and independent MP Monique Ryan are urging Labor to speed up funding for cutting-edge Australian medical innovation, taking advantage of the growing vacuum caused by Donald Trump’s gutting of government-funded research in the US.
Ryan, the Kooyong MP and paediatric neurologist, is urging the Albanese government to release more of the earnings from the $20bn Medical Research Future Fund, above the annual disbursement amount of $650m.
Research by the Parliamentary Budget Office shows the total value of the MRFF will grow at least $30.1bn within a decade, even if $1bn is released for research funding each year.
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The fund’s average annual rate of return has easily outperformed its benchmark since being created by the Turnbull government in 2015, and Ryan has told Labor a larger annual release from the fund’s earnings can boost life-saving innovation.
Recent Treasury figures put the MRFF’s current value at $24.1bn.
Ryan’s calls for more funding to be made available each year has been backed by leading research and academic organisations, including the Group of Eight universities, the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes, Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, and the Australian Academy of Science.
A delegation visiting Parliament House on Thursday will also include research organisations, such as the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, the Burnett Institute, Research Australia and the George Institute.
“Locking away this critical funding threatens the future of life-saving innovation,” Ryan said.
“Hundreds of high-quality research proposals have gone unfunded in recent years. Releasing MRFF funds not only secures the future of Australia’s research sector; it delivers better health outcomes for all Australians.”
Ryan has linked the push to Trump’s moves to slash funding and staff appointments at the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Along with his controversial health and human services secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US president has replaced experienced scientists with loyalists and individuals without medical or scientific training.
Australian researchers have had longstanding links to trusted US health institutions, including the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health. FDA approvals for new drugs helps guide approvals for use in Australia.
Ryan said Trump had slashed medical research funding and “eviscerated” the US CDC.
“The survival of world-class research institutes in Australia is also under threat,” she said.
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“Earlier this year, the Australian Association of Medical Research Institutes reported that, without more support, many of its member organisations would cease to be financially viable in five years.”
Trump’s budget proposal would cut funding for the US CDC by 53%, eliminate more than 60 programs and see another 16% of staff dismissed, according to research released in September.
On Thursday, Ryan will highlight research proposals which have missed out on MRFF funding, including a clinical trial on pregnancy for women with sleep apnoea put forward by Amanda Poprzecny, a specialist at Adelaide’s Women’s and Children’s hospital.
Associate Prof Adam McKay from Monash University’s Epworth Rehabilitation Research Centre proposed research to help patients recovering from traumatic brain injuries which also missed out on MRFF funding. The proposal aimed to implement and evaluate best-practise management of post-traumatic amnesia.
“This research would have helped people with traumatic brain injury get the best possible care at a critical time in their recovery,” McKay said. “Instead, we watched opportunities slip away.”
Legislation to establish a new Australian Centre for Disease Control is close to being passed by parliament.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
