The Medical Research Future Fund has announced up to A$136 million across four streams for medical research and innovation projects. 

Australia’s Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Clinical Trials Activity initiative has said that it will provide up to A$136 million (£71.7 million) across four streams for medical research and innovation projects. 

The initiative helps Australian researchers and patients to test new treatments through national and international clinical trials. It also supports research on rare cancers, rare diseases and unmet needs, what it calls “serious health conditions where existing diagnosis or treatment options are not working well for patients”.

The four streams are to test the feasibility of new clinical trials for treating or managing rare cancers, rare diseases and unmet needs; to conduct clinical trials to treat or manage rare cancers, rare diseases and unmet needs; to run clinical trials that target evidence gaps in Australia’s health technology assessment processes to support effective, high-value care; and to conduct prevention clinical trials that aim to reduce the risk, onset or progression of disease through early intervention strategies.

Previous grant recipients include Australian and New Zealand Children’s Haematology/Oncology Group at Monash University and the University of Sydney’s Cooperative Trials Group for Neuro-Oncology, both of which increase access for Australian patients in brain cancer clinical trials. 

The MRFF funds the initiative while the Health and Medical Research Office oversees this and other MRFF initiatives. The MRFF has committed to provide $750 million over 10 years from 2024-25. The initiative is administered by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).