Image: Catherine Falls Commercial, via Getty Images
Medical institutes disappointed as Australian fund’s 10-year plan retains A$650 million annual cap
Australia’s Medical Research Future Fund has released an unchanged set of funding forecasts, disappointing lobbyists who had asked for an increase and a full-funding policy.
The MRFF’s latest 10-year investment plan, released on 31 May, has no changes to the cap of A$650 million a year flowing from the A$22 billion fund.
The MRFF backs mainly medical commercialisation and development research, with priorities set by the Department of Health and Aged Care.
The plan lists 22 “initiatives” or funding areas to run alongside existing commitments, and the introduction says it will give “researchers, industry and consumers certainty and direction”.
But the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes says it would have liked to see a higher rate of funding.
Full costs
The AAMRI has been calling for an increase to the A$650m cap, releasing an analysis in May suggesting that up to A$323m more was available. It asked for another A$30m annually, saying this would help cover indirect expenses such as human resources, finance, research commercialisation, legal, business development, data and infrastructure costs.
AAMRI chief executive Saraid Billiards told Research Professional News that while the association welcomed initiatives including “the new Reducing Health Inequities and Low Survival Cancers MRFF missions…the greater priority for our sector, to ensure important research like this can be robust and continue into the future, is to reform research funding support to cover the full costs of undertaking MRFF research”.
The spending cap is set by legislation but can be varied by the health minister with parliament’s approval.
The future administration of the MRFF is still unclear, as the health ministry is considering a possible “alignment” of the fund with the National Health and Medical Research Council.
Several of the research missions outlined in the plan run for three to five years, with extensions beyond that “subject to evaluation”. However, some activities, such as clinical trials and research translation, are guaranteed backing for the full 10 years.