Creating a virtuous cyclepath through
the valley of death
Professor Warwick Anderson AM
CEO, NHMRC
• Research Virtuous Cycle
– Focus on innovative industries
– 2010-2011, pharmaceutical industry
invested approximately $1billion in
Research and Development
– 2011-2012, pharmaceutical industry
earned $4billion in exports
• NHMRC Strategic Plan 2013-2015
• Leadership role in research translation
– Continued support of research translation through
funding schemes
•
•
•
•
Centres of Research Excellence
Partnership Centres for Better Health
Practitioner Fellowships
Development Grants
– Research Translation Faculty
• Research Translation Faculty
– Newly established Faculty with more than 2,500 NHMRC
funded researchers
– Identify the major evidence - practice gaps in NHMRC’s
“Major Health Issues”, and
– Develop a “Case for Action”, on how NHMRC can address
the gap
• Advice to government
• Clinical or public health guidelines
• Transformative research through a Targeted Call for Research .
• Development Grants
– Support research at the early proof-of-principle or
pre-seed stage
– Since 2003:
Expenditure on
Development Grants
• 855 applications received
• 206 projects funded worth approximately $53 million
Year
• Development Grants
– Grants are becoming increasingly competitive
• 2006: 32.4% successful, 2011: 16.3% successful
Aggregate Applications 2003 to 2012
Administering Institution
Grand Total
University of Queensland
Monash University
University of Western Australia
University of Melbourne
Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute
University of Adelaide
University of Sydney
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
University of Wollongong
Queensland University of Technology
University of New South Wales
Australian National University
Macfarlane Burnet Institute for Medical Research and Public Health
Murdoch Children's Research Institute
Garvan Institute of Medical Research
Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
University of South Australia
Centre for Eye Research Australia Ltd
La Trobe University
Queensland Institute of Medical Research
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
Swinburne University of Technology
Bionic Ear Institute
Flinders University
Royal North Shore Hospital
# of apps
855
# of grants
206
funded rate
24.1%
83
69
66
64
25
49
63
31
21
21
40
22
18
20
16
4
14
6
12
17
13
7
3
26
2
24
17
16
15
12
12
11
11
9
7
7
6
6
6
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
28.9%
24.6%
24.2%
23.4%
48.0%
24.5%
17.5%
35.5%
42.9%
33.3%
17.5%
27.3%
33.3%
30.0%
25.0%
100.0%
28.6%
50.0%
25.0%
17.6%
23.1%
42.9%
66.7%
7.7%
100.0%
• Development Grant success stories
– Professor Timothy St Pierre
• University of Western Australia
• 2002-2004: $341,210
• Non-invasive measurement and imaging of hepatic iron
concentrations using nuclear magnetic resonance
• Launch of FerriScan in 2004
– Professor Ted Maddess
•
•
•
•
Australian National University
2006: $113,487
Wireless objective visual field testing for glaucoma diagnosis
Product went to market in 2010
• Development Grant success stories
– Professor Zee Upton
• Queensland University of Technology
• 2005-2006: $156,871
• Pre-clinical evaluation and optimisation of a novel therapy
for burns
• Sales commence in Europe in 2012
– Professor Sarah Robertson
• University of Adelaide
• 2002-2005: $481,980
• GM-CSF regulation of pre-implantation embryo
development
• Product went to market in 2011
• The Valley of Death
– Not all of the research from the 206 Development
Grants will make it across the bridge
Nature (2008) 453:840-842
– How to improve the safety of the bridge across the
Valley of Death?
• ACIG Evaluation of Development Grants Scheme
– Commissioned an independent assessment of the
economic, health and industry outcomes from the
NHMRC investment in the Development Grants
scheme
– 40 completed grants surveyed:
• 85% reached complete or partial proof of concept at grant
completion
• 80% secured a commercial partner
• 55% are currently under some form of commercial
development
• 6 have resulted in a product to market or awaiting
regulatory approval
• ACIG Evaluation of Development Grants Scheme
– Recommendations:
• Scheme design to be retained unless there are other
reasons for restructure
• Greater consultation with investors and industry on
incorporation of commercial milestones in grant reporting
• Consultation with Commercialisation Australia and other
appropriate agencies
• Develop and publicise successful case studies
• Other considerations:
– NHMRC Medical Research Endowment Account
– Intellectual Property Review
– Clinical Trials
– Strategic Review of Health and Medical Research
(McKeon Review)
– “Fiscal Rectitude”
– Australia in the Asian Century White Paper
• NHMRC Medical Research Endowment Account
– Purpose of the account is to provide assistance:
• To foster medical research and training and public health
research and training throughout Australia
National Health and Medical Research Council Act 1992
• Intellectual Property Review
• Report on Collaborations between the Public and Private
Sectors: The Role of Intellectual Property, September 2012
– Recommended:
» Adjusting key performance indicators for publicly funded
research organisations (PFROs) to give greater incentives for
industry collaboration
» Increase project management skills in PFROs
» Helping small business to better engage with public researchers
» De-risking early stage intellectual property
• Clinical Trials
– Essential component of the research translation
process
– Australia facing increasing competition from:
• Developing economies in our region
• Developed economies due to the high value of the $AUD
– Clinical Trials Action Group
• Recommendations provide the roadmap to build clinical
trial activity in Australia
• Clinical Trials
– NHMRC launched the clinical trials website in October
• http://www.australianclinicaltrials.gov.au/
– NHMRC will establish a working group to develop the
interactive web portal
– Standing Council on Health agreed that a national
approach to ethical review and approval of clinical
trials will be implemented by June 2013
• NHMRC has developed documents and guidance material to
support this transition and been actively involved
• Strategic Review of Health and Medical
Research (McKeon Review)
– NHMRC submission
http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/_files_nhmrc/file/research/nhmr
c_submission_mckeon_120417.pdf
– Draft recommendations:
• Enhancing the commercial pathway to impact, through
increased funding of early stage product development
• Facilitating the exchange between research and industry
and improve access to scale commercialisation services
• Fiscal Rectitude
– Dr Martin Parkinson, Treasury Secretary
• Nation’s taxation base is weaker than forecast in the mid2000s
• Commonwealth tax receipts are expected to remain
approximately $20 billion per annum lower than pre-GFC
projections
– Closing this gap would require governments to raise more revenue
and achieve significant savings
» “The public will need to make thoughtful decisions about what
it wants government to provide, and how it expects these
things will be provided”.
• Australia in the Asian Century White Paper
– Health and medical research sector has been missed
– NHMRC has been developing links with the Asia-Pacific
region
• Global Health
– GACD call for research on hypertension
prevention in low to middle income countries
– Is a strategic priority area in the Project Grant
Scheme
– Previous tripartite with NZHRC and Wellcome
Trust
• Collaboration with A*STAR
• Forum on H5N1 pandemic preparedness
• What will the cyclepath through the Valley
of Death look like?