The public benefits of health and medical research

Professor Warwick Anderson Chief Executive Officer

NHMRC Act amended 2006

Establishes NHMRC as an independent statutory agency within the health portfolio (a) (b) (c) (d) To raise the standard of individual and public health throughout Australia To foster the development of consistent health standards between the various States and Territories To foster medical research and training and public health research and training throughout Australia; and To foster consideration of ethical issues relating to health

NHMRC’s Strategic Plan - Parliament Must contain “the CEO’s assessment of the major national health issues that are likely to arise during the period (of the Strategic Plan)”.

“Highways to Health”

IMPROVED INDIVDUAL AND COMMUNITY HEALTH PROSPERITY

Prevention New treatments, therapies Improved delivery of primary, hospital health care Innovative industry development

Improving health globally and regionally

KNOWLEDGE RESEARCH

NHMRC Funding Schemes Summary Support for health and medical Research

•Program Grants •Project Grants •Development awards –

Building Australia's Research capacity

•People: •Fellowships • Career Development Awards • Training Fellowships • Scholarships •Fields •Capacity Building Grants in Population health Research •Capacity Building Grants in Health services Research •Centres of Clinical Research Excellence •Research Infrastructure: • Infrastructure Grants for Independent Medical Research Institutes • Enabling Grants • Equipment Grants

Grants for support of research

Grant Program Grants Project Grants Development Grants Priority & Strategic Grants $ Number $103,319,442 $281,747,558 $3,084,852 $7,471,287 65 1719 36 25

NHMRC Project Grants More could be funded

3200 2800 2400 2000 1600 1200 800 400 0 33% 37% 30% 2000 41% 36% 23% 2001 37% 25% 39% 44% 42% 43% 34% 40% 34% 36% 23% 22% 22% 2002 2003 2004 Year of Application 21% 2005 42% 21% 2006 48% 27% 2007 Not recommended for funding (score <4) Fundable, but not funded (score ≥4) Funded

Where the Funding Goes

Administering Institution

NHMRC research expenditure in 2007

NHMRC Funding to all Universities (2000 and 2007)

$80,000,000 $70,000,000 $60,000,000 $50,000,000 $40,000,000 $30,000,000 $20,000,000 $10,000,000 $0 U ni ve rsi U ty ni U of ve U ni M rsi M ni ve U el ty on ve ni bo rsi of ash rsi ty ve ur S ty of rsi ne yd U of W ty ni A ne Q ve ue est of y N U ust rsi en er ni ra ty n ew sl ve lia A S an rsi n Q ust ou U N d ty ni ue ra th at of W io ve lia en A na rsi sl al de l U ty Fl an es la of in d id ni ve N de La U e ni C T rsi ew rs ur ro ve ty ca U be rsi tin ni st ve U ty U U le ni of ni rsi ni G ve ve ty ve T rif ech fit rsi rsi rsi h ty ty U ty no U Ja of ni of ni m lo T S ve gy ve rsi ech ou es rsi C th ty ty no A oo D of lo k gy ust ea T U ki ra ni n ech M lia ve U U rsi ni no ur ni U lo ty ve do ve ni rsi gy ch rsi ve S ty yd U ty rsi ni of ne ty M ve T of y acq E di rsi asm W C th ty ua ol C en an lo rie U tra ia ng U ow ni ni S l Q on an ve A ve w U rsi U ue g in ust rsi ni ty ni bu en ra ty ve of ve rn sl lia rsi B e rsi an n V ty al U ty d C C ict la ni of U at ra ve ni ho ha or C ia t rsi an ve rsi lic rle U s ty ni be U D U ty ni rr ar ve ni a (C ve w rsi ve U Q rsi in ty rsi U ni U ty U C ni of ty ve ) ni ha ve V T of ic ve rle rsi rsi N ty rsi ech s ty no ew St of ty of E ur S lo W gy ng t U ou th la ni est nd ve er er n n rsi S Q ty yd ue ne en y sl an d 2000 2007

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

NHMRC Funding of top 10 Institutions - 2008

Top 10 = 66.9% of total funds

Where the Funding Goes

Percentage of NHMRC research expenditure to each state and territory 2000 – 2007

“Highways to Health”

IMPROVED INDIVDUAL AND COMMUNITY HEALTH PROSPERITY

Prevention New treatments, therapies Improved delivery of primary, hospital health care Innovative industry development

Improving health globally and regionally

KNOWLEDGE RESEARCH

National Health Priority Areas (NHPA)

$150 $120 $90 $60 $30 $0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Asthma* Arthritis and Osteoporosis* Cancer * Cardiovascular Disease* Diabetes* Injury Mental Health #

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Research

• NHMRC has a target of allocating 5% of the Medical Research Endowment Account (MREA) to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander related research

NHMRC Funding for Indigenous Health Funding (2000-2007)

$30,000,000 $25,000,000 $20,000,000 $15,000,000 $10,000,000 $5,000,000 $0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Intellectual Property

Patents in NHMRC project grant applications (2000 – 2006)

A Study of NHMRC final reports

The following slides are an analysis of data received on final reports from NHMRC funded grants. This includes: • 1208 final reports from grants that ended in 2003, 2004 and 2005 • With a total value of $460.1 million of NHMRC funding between 1998 and 2005.

• Scholarships, equipment grants and block funding are excluded.

Intellectual Property

Has this research award resulted in the development of Intellectual Property?

Yes No Not Answered

Total

2% 227 19% 953 28 79% 2%

1208 100%

19% 79%

Commercialisation

Reported commercial actions arising out of the research includes 29 start up companies, 11 reports of sales of products, and 3 IPO listings.

Commercial Potential Type

Patents assigned or licenced Interest from commercial party Development of therapeutic value Start up company formed Interest from the institutions commercial arm Joint ventures with commercial interests Successful clinical trials Development of Scientific Services Sales in products and therapies Revenue generated from royalties IPO Listing Licence options converted

End year 2003 End year 2004 End year 2005

6 4 2 26 17 21 25 28 22 2 1 1 0 14 11 11 5 13 16 8 6 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 6 3 3 2 0 4 4 0

Grand Total

57 49 45 29 28 20 11 10 7 4 3 2

Leverage of National and International funds

Total investment of $460.1 million for 1208 NHMRC grants resulted in leveraged funds of $254.4 million from; • National sources: • International sources: $124.1 million $130.3 million

Leverage of National and International funds

NIH Direct International Investment (FY 2006)

$90.0

$80.0

$70.0

$60.0

$US31.1 million (10% of total NIH international investment)

$50.0

$40.0

$30.0

$20.0

$10.0

$0.0

U ni te d K in gd om C an ad a A us tra S lia ou th A fri ca D en m ar k Ic el an d Ita ly C hi S na w itz er la N nd et he rla nd s S w ed en Is re al Fi nl an d O th er

New policy and practice focused research: NHMRC Partnerships

NHMRC Partnerships will focus on informing both policy and practice in health. This represents a new focus for the NHMRC in 2008.

The initiative will: • help create partnerships between policy makers, managers, clinicians and researchers • provide funding and support to create new opportunities for researchers and • policy makers to work together The aims are to • Process : • Lead to more effective connections between policy makers and researchers • Improve the availability and quality of research evidence to inform policy NHMRC Partnerships will initially fund two types of awards • NHMRC Partnership Projects (ARC Linkage -like) • NHMRC Partnerships Centres for Research excellence

2005 Nobel Prize Winners

Professor Barry Marshall Professor Robin Warren

University of Western Australia

Marshall and Warren shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of the

Helicobacter pylori

and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease.

1996 Nobel Prize Winner

Professor Peter Doherty

John Curtin School of Medical Research

Professor Doherty received the Nobel Prize for his milestone research into cellular immunology and discovery of how the body's immune system recognises virus-infected cells.

2006 Australian of the Year

Professor Ian Frazer

University of Queensland

Honoured as “Australian of the Year” for his groundbreaking work on the development of a vaccine for cervical cancer.

His work will prevent a virus that leads to half a million cases of cancer in women around the world each year, and takes hundreds of thousands of lives.

Commercial outcomes NHMRC support :

• Development Grants

(under review)

• Support Enhancement Options • Australian success stories: – – – Cochlear - Total revenue for the year 2006 increased 30% to a record $452.3 million ResMed - Delivered a record financial performance achieving $607 million in revenues, an increase of 43% from 2005 CSL (now with Gardasil!) - Consolidated Group profit for 2007 $539.3 million

Water Fluoridation

• Australia’s main public health strategy in reducing the prevalence of dental caries.

• NHMRC has funded evaluative research since the 1980s (validating the safety, optimal levels and cost-effectiveness of water fluoridation) • For each $1 invested in water fluoridation, estimated savings in dental treatment range from $12.60 to $80.00, with the greatest benefit to the most disadvantaged.

• NHMRC supported research has: – informed public debate, – provided an objective view on costs and benefits, and – provided reports that enable politically challenging policy decisions.

Source: Access Economics, draft Report – Returns to NHMRC funded R&D (2008)

Venous Thromboembolism

• It is estimated that, in 2008, there will be: – 14,700 hospitalisations – 5,285 deaths • VET costs $116,970 per case due to lost productivity from premature death.

• Health system expenditure is $10,007 per case.

• NICS developed and implemented the

Stop the Clot

campaign.

• Savings from the NHMRC component alone would be 5 lives per annum and $1.6 million in savings to the health system.

Source: Access Economics, draft Report – Returns to NHMRC funded R&D (2008)

NHMRC

Working to build a healthy Australia www.nhmrc.gov.au

CSL - Gardasil

• A vaccine against certain types of human papillomavirus.

• Royalties attribution yields a benefit of $63 million per annum to Australia.

• Potential benefits include the saving of 225,000 lives each year worldwide.

• CSL Consolidated Group profit for 2007 = $539.3 million Source: Access Economics, draft Report – Returns to NHMRC funded R&D (2008)