Focus will be on regenerative medicine in scheme aimed at taking Australian breakthroughs from the lab to the patient
Labor will commit to a $125m investment fund for health and medical research, focusing on regenerative medicine, if it wins the federal election next month.
Kevin Rudd will unveil the funding plan, which aims to take Australian medical research breakthroughs from the lab to the patient, on Tuesday. The government funding will be matched by the private sector, bringing the total research fund to $250m.
The prime minister said Australia had some of the best scientists in the world and a "track record of great medical breakthroughs". Extra funding would bring more jobs and other economic benefits to Australia, he said.
"In the 21st century, the next frontier for medicine will be biological medicine, regenerative medicine and genomics. Australia can play a leading role in this next frontier like we have in the past with antibiotics and cochlear implants."
Labor is hoping to keep the debate focused on health, an area in which Labor consistently polls better than the Coalition. Rudd has accused the Coalition of planning cuts worth $70bn, a claim the opposition leader, Tony Abbott, has denied.
Rudd said the investment would go towards projects like that of the University of Queensland's Institute for Molecular Bioscience, which has been working on growing kidney cells from a patient's tissue cells to allow the repair and regeneration of organs.
"This work is an example of the kind of breakthroughs that are on the horizon and can be achieved with government support," Rudd said.
The funding targets kidney research due to the high health and financial burden of end-stage kidney disease, which the government estimates costs $12bn between 2009 and 2020.
It follows the report of the McKeon review of health and medical research which was released in April. Under the chairmanship of the Australian of the year, Simon McKeon, the report made 21 recommendations on how to fund, set priorities and improve research for better health results.
