Grant Award View - GA55713

The Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) provides grants of financial assistance to support health and medical research and innovation in improving the health and wellbeing of Australians. It operates as an endowment fund with the capital preserved in perpetuity. The MRFF aims to transform health and medical research and innovation to improve lives, build the economy and contribute to health system sustainability through targeted strategic investment across the research pipeline.

The independent and expert Australian Medical Research Advisory Board’s Australian Medical Research and Innovation Strategy 2016–2021 and related Australian Medical Research and Innovation Priorities 2016–2018 were developed following extensive stakeholder consultation. The priorities identified by the Advisory Board were utilised to make decisions on the provision of financial assistance from the MRFF.

Brain cancer is the sixth leading cause of cancer burden and there are more than 100 types of brain cancer and other central nervous system cancers. These cancers carry high rates of morbidity and mortality. The five-year relative survival rate for brain cancer is low, at around 22 per cent and this rate has not improved for the past 30 years.

The young are disproportionately affected by brain cancer, being the leading cause of cancer-related deaths for those under 25 years of age. Every year in Australia the equivalent of a classroom of children die from brain cancer. The Australian Government is committed to improving survival rates and outcomes for both children and adults with brain cancer through ongoing investment in cancer control.

In October 2017, the Government established the Australian Brain Cancer Mission (the Mission). The aim of the Mission is to double survival rates and improve the quality of life of patients with brain cancer over 10 years to 2027, with the longer term aim of defeating brain cancer. Total funding for the Mission as at May 2019 stands at $124.65 million including $58.35 million in Australian Government funding under the MRFF. The remaining funds are being provided by philanthropy, other governments, industry and the private sector. Cancer Australia manages the implementation of the Mission, supported by a Strategic Advisory Group.  

The Mission is underpinned by the Brain Cancer Research Roadmap, developed by Australian and international experts in brain cancer treatment and research, and those affected by brain cancer, their advocates and philanthropic interests.

One of the priorities under the investment strategy of Increased and Equitable Access and Participation in Clinical Trials, is to invest in, and expand, the capacity of innovative brain cancer research clinical trials of great potential. Clinical trials are fundamental to establishing whether new cancer treatments or new ways of using existing therapies, diagnostic tests, preventative or supportive interventions are effective, and whether they help generate the evidence for best-practice cancer care.