New Report on Cancer Research Funding

A new report released by Cancer Australia shows where money for cancer research came from between between 2006 and 2011.
NHMRC is described as the single largest investor in cancer research in Australia, having funded more
than 1060 research projects and programs worth $568 million over the five year period. Other Australian government bodies such as the Australian Research Council, Department of Health, Department of Industry and Cancer Australia, contributed 10% between them.
The Cancer Australia report presents findings from an audit of cancer research investment and covers the amount of  funding by organisation, the amount directed to each tumour type, and a description of investment versus burden of disease, amongst other analyses.
NHMRC CEO Professor Anderson said: “This report outlines the outstanding efforts of the research community so far, and although there have been dramatic improvements in diagnosis, treatment and survival for a number of cancers, there is much we still don’t know about this devastating disease,” Professor Anderson said.
“Thankfully there are many researchers with great ideas to help fill those gaps. As the country’s biggest
funder of cancer research, it is crucial that we support the very best ideas and that every dollar spent
goes towards those with the greatest potential to improve the health of Australians,” he said.
“We have incredibly rigorous assessment processes, and analyses on many occasions have showed
that NHMRC funded research is high impact and high quality.”
The report found that the direction of research varied considerably between NHMRC and other bodies
such as cancer councils, foundations and philanthropic bodies.
Between 2009-11, other funding bodies invested primarily in treatment research (35%), followed by early
detection and diagnosis (23%), understanding the biology of cancer cells (18%) and preventing cancer
(2%).
By contrast, most of NHMRC funding went towards cancer biology research (45%), treatment research
(23%), early detection and diagnosis (10%) and preventing cancer (3%). “While we ensure that the best ideas receive funding, NHMRC does not favour one theme of cancer  research over another and our grants are largely investigator-initiated. In saying that, it is very difficult to develop treatments for something you don’t understand, so I think the balance is spot on,” Professor  Anderson said.
“The audit findings also reflect the idea that our researchers have been very responsive to the
knowledge base over time. Since 2003, NHMRC has funded increasingly less biology (from 59%-45%),
and more treatment research (from 14%-23%), which reflects our researchers learning more and more
about the disease and perhaps developing more robust and sound proposals for treatment research,” he
said. “It’s also good to know that our research is in alignment with that of other funding bodies so we are not
duplicating effort. That is utterly crucial in tackling diseases of this magnitude.”
Cancer Council Australia welcomed the audit. Cancer Council Australia CEO, Professor Ian Olver, said that while the relative funding of research into tumours that caused high death rates had increased, the trend needed to continue.
“The trend towards a relative increase in funding for research into cancers that are particularly difficult to treat, such as lung cancer, is encouraging,” he said.
“We need to continue and accelerate that trend, even though difficult-to-treat cancers pose the greatest challenges to researchers.”
Professor Olver said the report also showed that the overall investment in cancer prevention research across all sectors was only 2%, demonstrating the importance of supporting nongovernment and not-for-profit organisations, which led work in areas such as skin cancer prevention.
“A lot of prevention science and research in areas such as survivorship and patient support has no commercial application, so it is important to have a strong not-for-profit sector driving that research,” he said.
The Cancer Australia Report is available here