1. The public benefits of health and medical research Professor Warwick Anderson Chief Executive Officer

2. NHMRC Act amended 2006 Establishes NHMRC as an independent statutory agency within the health portfolio (a)To raise the standard of individual and public health throughout Australia (b)To foster the development of consistent health standards between the various States and Territories (c)To foster medical research and training and public health research and training throughout Australia; and (d)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)”.

3. “Highways to Health” Prevention Improved delivery of primary, hospital health care PROSPERITY Improving health globally and regionally KNOWLEDGE RESEARCH New treatments, therapies IMPROVED INDIVDUAL AND COMMUNITY HEALTH Innovative industry development

4. 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

5. Grant $ Number Program Grants$103,319,44265 Project Grants$281,747,5581719 Development Grants$3,084,85236 Priority & Strategic Grants $7,471,28725 Grants for support of research

6. NHMRC Project Grants More could be funded Fundable, but not funded (score ≥4) Funded Not recommended for funding (score <4)

7. NHMRC research expenditure in 2007 Where the Funding Goes Administering Institution

8. NHMRC Funding to all Universities (2000 and 2007)

9. NHMRC Funding of top 10 Institutions - 2008 Top 10 = 66.9% of total funds

10. Percentage of NHMRC research expenditure to each state and territory 2000 – 2007 Where the Funding Goes

11. “Highways to Health” Prevention Improved delivery of primary, hospital health care PROSPERITY Improving health globally and regionally KNOWLEDGE RESEARCH New treatments, therapies IMPROVED INDIVDUAL AND COMMUNITY HEALTH Innovative industry development

12. National Health Priority Areas (NHPA)

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

14. NHMRC Funding for Indigenous Health Funding (2000-2007)

15. Patents in NHMRC project grant applications (2000 – 2006) Intellectual Property

16. A Study of NHMRC final reports 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. The following slides are an analysis of data received on final reports from NHMRC funded grants. This includes:

17. Has this research award resulted in the development of Intellectual Property? Yes22719% No95379% Not Answered282% Total1208100% Intellectual Property

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

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

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

21. 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: Lead to more effective connections between policy makers and researchers Improve the availability and quality of research evidence to inform policy Process NHMRC Partnerships will initially fund two types of awards NHMRC Partnership Projects (ARC Linkage -like) NHMRC Partnerships Centres for Research excellence

22. 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.

23. 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.

24. 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. 2006 Australian of the Year Professor Ian Frazer

25. 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 Commercial outcomes

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

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

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

29. 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 CSL - Gardasil Source: Access Economics, draft Report – Returns to NHMRC funded R&D (2008)