New £15 million funding for UK-Australia clinical trials
- 24 October 2024
- 2 min read
The NIHR is launching today a new £15.5 million partnership with the Government of Australia’s medical research funders - the Medical Research Futures Fund (MRFF) and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
The funding will go towards a new joint UK-Australia research call focusing on platform trials to address areas of unmet health and care needs. A platform trial is an innovative clinical trial methodology which enables the evaluation of multiple interventions through a single study. Platform trials were particularly efficient at evaluating treatments for COVID-19 during the pandemic.
This partnership will harness the UK and Australia’s mutual strengths, ideas, expertise and infrastructure, to improve the lives of people with serious health conditions who currently have limited options for prevention, diagnosis or treatment.
This funding call is now open. Applications must be submitted no later than 10am BST 23rd July 2025. Applications are welcomed across all areas of health which meet funding criteria, but the following topics are of high interest:
- Childhood, brain and prostate cancers
- Stroke and traumatic brain injuries
- Neurodegenerative diseases
- Cardiometabolic conditions including obesity
Baroness Gillian Merron, Minister responsible for Life Sciences and Innovation at the UK Department of Health and Social Care, said: “We're determined to transform the UK into a life sciences superpower, and international collaboration with key partners such as Australia will play a vital role in achieving this mission.
“This partnership will harness the power of innovation in the fight against devastating diseases like cancer – ensuring patients are offered the highest-quality treatments and ultimately saving lives.
“As part of our 10 year health plan, we are reforming our NHS to make it fit for the future and research like this will help us shift towards preventing illnesses where we can.”
Professor Lucy Chappell, NIHR CEO, said: “International efforts such as this partnership drive innovation in health and care, saving and improving lives. Working with our partners in Australia will allow us to maximise our talent, resources and capacity in order to encourage, fund and support life-changing research for the benefit of people across the UK and Australia who face complex health and social care challenges. I look forward to the benefits this partnership will bring for both our countries.”
Natasha Ploenges, CEO of the Health and Medical Research Office, Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care said: “This important collaboration with the UK will fund clinical trials in key areas of unmet clinical need, paving the way for groundbreaking treatments that will benefit patients globally.”
Professor Steve Wesselingh, CEO of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), said: “International collaborations such as this joint call allow us to explore untapped global talent, and it is exciting to think that the outcomes of these platform trials, where multiple treatments are evaluated simultaneously, could help combat many areas of health and medical research where there is an unmet clinical need.”
The joint call will be equally funded by the UK and Australia. The UK funds will support UK-based project components, with Australian funding supporting the costs in Australia. The successful platforms will be commissioned over five years, to evaluate the interventions set out at application stage.
To learn more about this new international funding call, sign up to a webinar on 19th November 2024 at 8am GMT to support applicants.