Melbourne to host game-changing brain cancer trials after Carrie’s support

Local patients will get access to cutting-edge treatments in an Australian-first program by 2027 — and if you’ve ever bought one of Carrie’s beanies, you’ve played a role.

A “landmark” brain cancer program to fast-track the development of new, personalised therapies for some of the most aggressive, deadly tumours will be opened in Melbourne.

News of the game-changing WEHI and Peter Mac initiative comes shortly after Carrie Bickmore — whose fundraising played a major role in the project — won Victorian of the Year for her advocacy.

The program, called BRAIINSTORM, will give local patients access to cutting edge clinical trials, offering genuine hope to Aussies with incurable, notoriously difficult to treat brains cancers.

The team behind it say it represents “Australia’s boldest approach to tackling high-grade gliomas”, the most lethal form of brain cancer.

It will open in 2026, and open clinical trials within two years, thanks to a $2.5m grant from the Australian Cancer Research Foundation.

Bickmore said it was “empowering” for their donors and community to know that their contributions don’t just help researchers produce “incredible discoveries”, but win other grants too.

Carrie Bickmore has welcomed the the launch of the program, which was possible thanks to funding in its early days from her foundation. Picture: Instagram

WEHI researcher and BRAIINSTORM co-lead Professor Misty Jenkins teared up as she described the program’s significance and said the prospect of one day finding an effective treatment was “what I live for”.

“We’re still treating patients the same way we did decades ago, and that really is because of a lack of investment and research in brain cancer,” she said.

“Most children with a high grade glioma succumb to disease within a year.

“For adults with glioblastoma … their prognosis is fourteen months.

“Unlike other cancers, the dial just hasn’t shifted in decades.”

ACRF chief executive Kerry Strydom said the program has the potential “to deliver the first genuinely effective new therapies” in “a generation” for glioblastoma and DIPG, an aggressive tumour primarily found in children.

“[It] will give Australian patients access to tomorrow’s therapies today,” she said.

Prof Jenkins said it would significantly speed up the time between initial breakthrough and first human trials.

“We can unite artificial intelligence approaches, discovery science, world class imaging and, importantly, a cell therapy manufacturing platform under one roof for the first time in Australia,” she said.

Prof Misty Jenkins said the program will give brain cancer patients access to promising . Picture: Tony Gough

The team will use artificial intelligence to identify promising new immunotherapies, which they can then manufacture in-house to secure crucial approvals for patient trials.

This in-house manufacturing is critical, making the laboratory one of just a handful in Australia with an end to end pipeline for personalised immunotherapy, and the only one focused on brain cancer.

Prof Jenkins said keeping everything, from discovery to preclinical trial manufacturing in Australia, would help avoid a “bottleneck” in local drug research.

“That means that we can do things more affordably, we can do it faster and ultimately into the future this will benefit Australian patients, particularly Victorian patients,” she said.

“We’re going to have the capability on site in Melbourne to actually be able to run these small personalised cell therapy trials in Melbourne.

“The current trials … are showing us some really incredible outcomes for patients in America.

“We want Australian patients to be able to have the same level of access.”

She said the ACRF grant would not have been possible without the support of Bickmore and everyone who bought a beanie to support brain cancer research.

Bickmore said: “I’m so proud that my foundation and the Brain Cancer Centre are contributing critical early funding that allows Misty and Jim and our other incredible researchers the chance to win these important grants. It’s so empowering for our community and all of our donors to know that when they contribute to us - our team of researchers not only produce incredible discoveries, but they go on to win other grants, turning their dollar into $2 or $3 more! I wish Misty and Jim the best of luck with this important project”.

Originally published as Melbourne to host game-changing brain cancer trials after Carrie’s support