National Health and Medical Industry Growth Plan

Posted: 31st May

The Government will invest $1.3 billion in a Health and Medical Industry Growth Plan to drive a new era of better health care and fuel jobs and growth in new firms and industries through research. The Growth Plan will inject an estimated $18 billion into the Australian economy, and cement Australia’s place as a world leader in health and medical research and technology development. It will provide an estimated 28,000 new jobs, provide for a minimum of 130 new clinical trials, and add a 50 per cent increase in exports, new markets and global market leadership in biotechnology, medical devices and pharmaceuticals. 

Research investments include:

  • $500 million over 10 years for a Genomics Health Futures Mission;
  • $240 million over four years for a Frontier Health and Medical Research program;
  • $248 million over five years for an expanded Rare Cancers, Rare Diseases and Unmet Need clinical trials program, new international clinical trial collaborations and commencement of work on an national clinical trials front door;
  • $125 million over nine years for a Targeted Translation Research Accelerator program in chronic conditions focused on diabetes and heart research; and
  • $94 million over four years for industry research collaborations and biomedical and medical technology programs.

The Government will also provide $30 million to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare to improve accessibility to health information and statistics and $20 million to support the Australian Medical Research Advisory Board.

Why is this important?

Medical research has the power to save lives, improve lives and support the next generation of Australian jobs and world leading industries. 

This Plan will deliver scientific breakthroughs from the laboratory to patients and ensure Australia maintains its place as a world leader in health and medical research. 

The Plan is consistent with the Australian Medical Research and Innovation Strategy 2016–2021 and the focus on supporting patients, researchers, missions and translation. 

Who will benefit?

Patients will benefit through improved healthcare outcomes from new medicines, devices and treatments, embedded genomics technology, clinical trial activity and data analytics. This Plan will boost the Australian economy through jobs and export potential.

How much will this cost?

This measure will cost $1.3 billion over 10 years from 2017–18.

Source: https://www.health.gov.au/internet/budget/publishing.nsf/Content/budget2018-factsheet64.htm