The Hon. Greg Hunt MP
Minister for Health and Aged Care
MEDIA RELEASE
17 April 2022
Backing Australian researchers to join international trials
The Morrison Government is investing $9.1 million in 4 projects bringing world-best international clinical trials to Australian patients through the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).
The projects are the outcome of the MRFF Clinical Trials Activity Initiative – International Clinical Trial Collaborations Grant Opportunity, which provides funding to increase Australian leadership and participation in high quality international collaborative clinical trials.
Clinical trials supported under MRFF improve the health outcomes of Australians by providing robust evidence for the effectiveness of new health treatments, drugs or devices, and informing decisions on their use in our healthcare system.
International collaborative clinical trials can be done on a larger scale and are particularly useful for trials involving diseases or conditions which are not common in the general population.
Professor Jodie Dodd at the University of Adelaide will receive more than $3 million to explore the use of antenatal corticosteroids (ACS) in preterm birth.
Each year across the world, 15 million babies are born early before 37 weeks. Exposure to two doses of ACS before early birth improves baby’s lung and brain development.
Despite ACS being used since the 1970’s, the optimal dose has not been determined. Professor Dodd’s team will take part in an international, multi-centre randomised trial to test whether a single dose of ACS is sufficient for lung maturation with fewer long-term side effects.
Other recipients under this grant round are:
- $1.8 million to the University of Sydney, to trial anticoagulation for stroke prevention in patients with recent episodes of perioperative atrial fibrillation after noncardiac surgery
- $2.2 million to the University of New South Wales, to trial Dapagliflozin in people with advanced chronic kidney disease and kidney failure
- $2 million to the University of New South Wales, for an enhanced control of hypertension and thrombectomy stroke study.
The Government has invested almost $2 billion in ground-breaking medical research through the MRFF to improve the health and wellbeing of Australians.
Investing in health and medical research is a key priority of the Government’s Long Term National Health Plan. Research of all kinds is essential to improve prevention of disease, health care and treatments, and to make our health system work better for all Australians.
Under our Government, the Medical Research Future Fund has grown to a $20 billion endowment fund, a long-term investment supporting Australia’s best and brightest researchers.
This is a stark contrast to Mr Albanese and Labor, who when last in Government stopped listing essential medicines and treatments on the PBS, slashed funding for mental health support and tried to rip funding out of medical research.
Further information about the MRFF is available at www.health.gov.au/mrff
-ENDS-
MRFF 2021 International Clinical Trial Collaborations
Project | Recipient | Funding | ||
Anticoagulation for Stroke Prevention In patients with Recent Episodes of perioperative Atrial Fibrillation after noncardiac surgery – The ASPIRE-AF trial | University of Sydney | $1,816,175.10 | ||
Dapagliflozin in advanced chronic kidney disease and kidney failure: The RENAL LIFECYCLE trial | University of New South Wales | $2,229,409.70 | ||
The single dose of antenatal corticosteroids (SNACS) randomised trial for women at risk for preterm birth. | University of Adelaide | $3,025,898.90 | ||
Enhanced Control of Hypertension and Thrombectomy Stroke Study (ENCHANTED-MT) | University of New South Wales | $2,029,360.80 | ||
Total | $9,100,844.50 |