A$50 million to provide life-saving support to cancer patients in Australia

The Australian government will provide A$50 million (S37 million) to support some of Australia’s sickest patients, battling the most aggressive and deadliest cancers, to access potentially life-saving medical treatment, Health Minister Greg Hunt revealed today.

The new national program - The Australian Genomic Cancer Medicine Program - will treat more than 5,000 patients nationally, from every state and territory.

The program will be open for patients with rare cancers and advanced stage cancers who have little or no treatment options left. These include patients with ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, thyroid cancer, renal cell cancer and sarcomas. Each patient will have their cancer individually tested through what is known as genomic sequencing.

This new type of medical treatment works by looking deep into each patient’s cancerous cells, analysing their DNA to work out how to target and destroy the cancer.

Genomic testing will transform prevention, prediction, diagnosis and treatment of disease. It provides precision medical care, targeting the unique genetic make-up of individuals.

The Australian Genomic Cancer Medicine Program (AGCMP) brings together Australia’s eight major cancer centers and three leading research institutes, including the Garvan Institute and Kinghorn Cancer Centre in Sydney, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and Peter Mac in Melbourne and the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

In developing the trials, the AGCMP will work with the pharmaceutical industry, the Therapeutic Goods Administration and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee.

This means that the trials will be able to provide the right evidence to support Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme listing of the drugs being tested – this means thousands of other patients will be able to benefit from this trial.

The Turnbull government’s A$50 million contribution to the program brings the total commitment to A$160 million over five years.

The A$1.3 billion National Health and Medical Industry Growth Plan, announced in this year’s Budget, includes a flagship A$500 million, 10 year commitment to the Genomics Health Futures Mission.