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$63.4 million for rare cancers and rare diseases research

The Hon Greg Hunt MP

Minister for Health and Aged Care

Research into some of the world’s rarest forms of cancer and disease have received a boost, with the Morrison Government announcing 27 grant recipients under the 2021 Rare Cancers, Rare Diseases and Unmet Need (RCRDUN) grant opportunity.

The grants have been awarded to 27 projects through the grant opportunity, which aims to increase clinical trial activity in Australia for rare cancers and rare disease by supporting new, high quality research.

The RCRDUN opportunity also encourages novel and innovative clinical trial methodologies, such as the application of precision medicine to take individual genetic variation into account in disease treatment.

Rare cancers and rare diseases are specific, life threatening or chronically debilitating health conditions that affect fewer than 1 in 2,000 people.

With limited treatment options, patient outcomes may not be optimal and the combined health burden on the patient and the health sector is significant.

Among the 27 grant recipients are:

  • $1,515,180 to the University of New South Wales to trial combination precision guided therapies for high risk childhood cancer, based on each child’s individual tumour profile. This can support better targeted treatments based on precision medicine for children with the most aggressive cancers.
  • $2,970,301 to Monash University, for a study that will test whether a structured radiology report can improve the accuracy of reporting of CT scans in pancreatic cancer, to help doctors distinguish patients who should receive chemotherapy before surgery versus surgery alone, to optimise care. Identifying the most effective treatment for patients as quickly as possible will support improved outcomes from this devastating cancer.

The RCRDUN opportunity follows previous clinical trial activity funded under the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Clinical Trials Activity initiative.

The Coalition Government is proud to have 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 ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Health Plan. Research of all kinds is essential to improve our prevention of disease, health care and treatments, and to make our health system work better for all Australians.

The Government’s MRFF is a $20 billion endowment fund, a long-term investment supporting Australia’s best and brightest researchers. Further information about the MRFF is available at

2021 Rare Cancers, Rare Diseases and Unmet Need Grant Opportunity

Project

Recipient

Funding

A precision medicine clinical trial platform to BEAT CF

The University of Newcastle

$2,107,804.40

A randomised controlled trial of Standard Of Care versus RadioAblaTion in Early Stage HCC (The SOCRATES HCC Study)

Flinders University

$2,352,010.80

Augmenting dietary protein during critical illness: A cluster randomised cross-sectional double cross-over clinical trial

University of Melbourne

$1,992,218.00

More efficient delivery of high-cost standard-of-care therapies in relapsed multiple myeloma using real-time feedback of patient-reported outcome measures: the MY-PROMPT-2 trial

Monash University

$1,678,493.00

HEPATA: Hereditary Pancreatitis and AutoIslet Transplant Trials in Australia

The University of Adelaide

$2,014,561.20

Improving the lives of people with Phantom Limb Pain – the TITAN trial (graded moTor Imagery for phanTom lImb pAiN)

University of New South Wales

$1,531,130.80

Driving functional recovery after spinal cord injury using transcutaneous electrical spinal cord neuromodulation (TESCoN)

University of Melbourne

$2,038,621.80

REDEEM: A Randomised Controlled Trial of ECMO to Desedate, Extubate Early and Mobilise in severe acute respiratory infection

Monash University

$2,534,432.00

A Multicomponent Exercise Medicine Programme in Patients with Pancreatic Cancer Undergoing Neoadjuvant Therapy (the EXPAN trial): A Two-armed Phase I Randomised Controlled Trial

Edith Cowan University

$561,910.00

REMIT: An international, multi-centre, randomised clinical trial to compare Obinutuzumab + Calcineurin Inhibitor to Corticosteroid + Cyclophosphamide treatment regimens in Primary Membranous Nephropathy

The University of Adelaide

$2,904,210.20

The AIRSPACE Trial: AntI-MRSA PhAge Cocktail treatment via Acoustic Enhanced Nebulisers

The University of Adelaide

$1,712,340.60

Fibrinogen Early In Severe Trauma StudY II (FEISTY II)

Monash University

$3,162,379.40

INTER-EWING -1 – International clinical research program to improve outcomes in newly diagnosed Ewing Sarcoma patients – Trial 1.

Monash University

$998,608.80

SCANPatient: Synoptic reporting of CT scans assessing cancer of the pancreas

Monash University

$2,970,301.10

Implementing a Nurse-Enabled, Shared-Care Model to Address Unmet Needs of People with Neuroendocrine Tumours: the AUS-NET Trial

Flinders University

$2,374,220.10

A Platform trial of combination precision guided therapies for high risk childhood cancer

University of New South Wales

$1,515,180.00

An early phase, open label, multi-centre trial of front-line TheRapy for EBv-associated Lymphomas – 2: TREBL-2

The University of Queensland

$2,844,744.60

Optimising Care: Phase III Trial in women with metastatic breast cancer to improve quality of life via exercise and diet

The University of Queensland

$2,044,955.10

LUMOS: Low and Anaplastic Grade Glioma Umbrella Study of Molecular Guided TherapieS

University of Sydney

$1,982,681.32

Accelerating clot lysis in ischemic stroke with dornase alfa in an Umbrella Bayesian Optimised Phase 2 trial

University of Melbourne

$1,453,336.70

Improving clinical outcomes for children and adults with bronchiectasis: a multi-centre randomised controlled trial using a novel mucolytic with a discovery biomarker

Queensland University of Technology

$2,069,492.72

Duration of Cardiac Antimicrobial Prophylaxis Outcomes Study (CALIPSO): multicentre, adaptive, double-blind, three-arm, placebo-controlled, non-inferiority trial examining antimicrobial prophylaxis duration in cardiac surgery

Monash University

$7,979,999.10

Look before you leap: How transthoracic ECHOcardiography before fractured Neck Of Femur saves lives in frail older people – the proposed Pragmatic ECHONOF III trial

University of Melbourne

$3,686,076.20

Eliminating HIV that persists on antiretroviral therapy through treatment with the BCL-2 antagonist, venetoclax

University of Melbourne

$1,400,752.00

SWiMS – Schizophrenia Weight, Metformin and Semaglutide: A double blind double dummy placebo controlled multi-centre RCT

The University of Queensland

$3,839,117.60

Is oral antibiotic treatment alone non-inferior to standard care for children with bone and joint infections?

Murdoch Childrens Research Institute

$1,230,723.80

The SiroSkin study: A multi-centre randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial of 1% topical sirolimus in the chemoprevention of facial squamous cell carcinomas in solid organ transplant recipients

The University of Queensland

$2,486,489.20

Total

$63,466,790.54

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