Chronic diseases that could be stamped out through the Medical Research Future Fund proposed in Federal Budget 2014
TONY Abbott wants to invest $20 billion in a Medical Research Future Fund “so we can all live healthier and happier lives”. Here are the diseases we could stamp out.
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ONE of the few parts of the Federal Budget that earnt the Abbott Government praise last week was its commitment to create a $20 billion Medical Research Future Fund.
The Prime Minister hailed the fund as a “fine piece of policy” that would “double our nation’s investment in finding cures for disease and better medical treatments so we can all live healthier and happier lives”.
So where might this money be spent?
News.com.au spoke to some of the country’s leading experts to find out where the next frontier in medical research might lie.
Here are the top diseases that could be stamped out thanks to the Medical Research Future Fund.
CANCER
Cancer Council Australia chief executive Ian Olver said there was the potential to create a vaccine that could revolutionise the treatment of melanoma and prostate cancer in the same way that the cervical cancer vaccine did among women.
“The holy grail is to develop an anti-cancer vaccine and we are close to doing that in a number of cancers, such as melanoma and prostate cancer,” Prof Olver said.
He said a few more years’ research could lead to this game-changing breakthrough.
“We need to work in areas that are unique in Australia and melanoma has the highest incidence here in the world,” he said.
Prof Olver said it would also be important to direct a significant amount of the funding towards prevention, such as creating new screening tests like those that exist for cervical and bowel cancer.
Immunologist and cancer biologist Professor Chris Parish, from the John Curtin School of Medical Research in the Australian National University, said there was the possibility that cancer could be turned from a death sentence to a treatable disease, much in the same way people now live with HIV/AIDS.
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OSTEOPOROSIS
The medical director of Osteoporosis Australia believes a cure for the condition is likely within 10 years given the innovative research Australians are leading.
An anabolic drug already exists that has the ability to build new bones but at the moment there is only one form of the drug and it is prohibitively expensive.
Osteoporosis Australia’s Peter Ebeling said putting more funding behind this drug research could mean an end to the condition.
“We’ve got people working on new anabolic drugs in Australia that could be progressed if money was available,” Prof Ebeling said.
“These drugs, some are so powerful they could result in a cure.”
Osteoporosis affects 2.2 million Australians and is characterised by low bone mass and the deterioration of bone strength. The disease is increasingly an underlying cause of premature death.
Researchers at Sydney’s Garvan Institute are at the forefront of investigation into the condition, which could lead to doctors identifying people who would most benefit from preventive medicine.
“What you need to do is understand why some people get it and why they don’t,” the institute’s Professor John Mattick said.
“If we can understand why there is a variable depletion of calcium in older people we can understand the first step to working out how to restore those back to the normal range.”
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ALZHEIMER’S
Alzheimer’s Australia is optimistic about moving towards a world without dementia within the next 10 years after receiving a $200 million boost to medical research in last week’s Budget.
The foundation’s chief executive officer, Glenn Rees, said there had been an under-investment in research into dementia for the past 10 to 15 years, but the funding for the National Dementia Research Institute had the potential to significantly reduce the prevalence of the disease.
Mr Rees said if the onset of dementia could be delayed by five years, the number of people with the condition could be reduced by one third by 2050.
“If we can intervene early enough to push dementia further back in life … it might be possible for people to have a dementia-free life,” he said.
According to Alzheimer’s Australia, one of the keys to beating the disease would be to fund a critical mass of 150 new researchers to work on the biggest challenges in the field.
The most promising strategies being pursued to stamp out the disease are the development of a vaccine, stem cell and gene therapies, and ways to neutralise the toxic effects of proteins in the brain.
More than 332,000 Australians live with dementia and it is the single greatest cause of disability in Australians aged 65 and older.
MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES
The dean of medicine at the University of NSW, Professor Peter Smith, said we could see significant advancement if the bulk of the $20 billion fund was directed towards mental health.
“I think it would be a great shame to see it frittered away on small, reductionist projects, because in 10 years’ time we’ll be saying, ‘Where did those funds go?’” Prof Smith said.
He said mental health was an area in which Australia could make great strides.
“It has a big impact, whether it’s dementia, schizophrenia among young people, addictive behaviours from drugs and alcohol — there is not a family in the country that isn’t being touched by that,” he said.
Prof Smith said Australia was leading the world in genomics, the study of genomes. This field could be the best hope for the next medical breakthrough in mental health because it could lead to treatments being tailored to patients’ particular genetic make-ups.
Originally published as Chronic diseases that could be stamped out through the Medical Research Future Fund proposed in Federal Budget 2014
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