The Liberal National Government will provide $54.5 million for research that will give new hope and support to the more than 120,000 Australian children and adults living with type 1 diabetes.
The funding is provided through the Government's landmark Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Australia will receive $25 million to advance its Type 1 Diabetes Clinical Research Network.
An additional $4.5 million in funding will be provided to JDRF Australia over three years to further assist with the strategic vision and national leadership of the research network
An initial investment of $25 million will also be dedicated to broader diabetes research under the $125 million MRFF Targeted Translation Research Accelerator initiative, to help progress early stage health and medical research discoveries to reach proof-of-concept and progress to clinical trials. Projects will be funded following an open and competitive grant round.
The Government is aware of the significant impact that diabetes has on people and their families and is committed to working towards the broad prevention of the disease in the Australian community.
Whilst Type 1 diabetes is a difficult area to research, Australia has made much progress.
The research funding I am announcing today will help to increase the excellence and impact of this research in Australia by further supporting our best and brightest researchers to find – ultimately – a cure for diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes is a life-long auto-immune disease that usually occurs in childhood but can be diagnosed at any age.
It is one of the most common chronic diseases in children and most newly diagnosed cases are in people less than 15 years old. At present, there is no cure for type 1 diabetes and no proven approach to prevent the disease occurring.
The research investment is on top of recently announced funding of more than $100 million to support Australia's continuous glucose monitoring program.
Our Government will expand free access to glucose monitoring devices for pregnant women, children and more adults with type 1 diabetes, saving people up to $7,000 a year.
This investment over the next four years will ensure that free glucose monitoring devices are available to over 37,000 eligible people with type 1 diabetes from March 1, 2019.
Continuous glucose monitoring devices bring peace of mind to Australians with type 1 diabetes and improve their quality of life now and into the future.
The Government also plans to add the new FreeStyle Libre glucose monitoring device to the scheme to provide greater choice to people with diabetes.
Our Government's strong economic management means we can make sure more patients have access to more life-saving medicines and treatments and medical research that will save lives.
