Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Melbourne, Victoria
[check against delivery]
Acronyms are very useful things. Saying TORCH is a lot easier than saying Translational Oncology Research Collaborative Hub.
But it’s worth unpacking acronyms from time to time just to remind ourselves exactly what we are doing.
My understanding is that translational oncology research is about turning laboratory findings into practical treatments for cancer patients. This is vitally important work, but I won’t be taking questions on it.
My focus as a policy-maker is on the second half of the equation – on research in all its forms, collaboration and hubs.
As a believer in the power of research to satisfy human needs and fulfil human aspirations, I couldn’t be happier with the boost to higher education investment announced in this week’s budget.
That investment will be used to extend and renew capacity across the sector, not least in research facilities and institutions.
It is impossible to overstate the importance of research to our future.
Research creates new knowledge and shows us how to apply it.
New knowledge fuels innovation.
And innovation is critical to our economic success, environmental sustainability, personal health, social well-being, and cultural vitality.
If we can’t create new intellectual capital, we won’t be able to meet new challenges and opportunities. If we can’t create our own intellectual capital, we’ll be reduced to dependency and imitation.
It is therefore essential that we strike the right balance between basic, strategic and applied research – and, most importantly, that we lift our research effort overall.
One way to do that is through collaboration.
Australia is a pretty smart country, but it is also a small country with finite resources. We can’t afford wasteful duplication and, to be perfectly frank, we can’t afford to support second-rate work.
If we are serious about achieving excellence and securing the best return for our research dollars, we need to get individuals, institutions and sectors working together.
We need to build networks and bridge the gulfs that currently separate players in the innovation system.
In one recent OECD survey, Australia was ranked last out of twenty-six countries for innovation partnerships between industry and universities and second last for innovation partnerships between industry and public research organisations. This clearly isn’t good enough.
As well as increasing connectivity, we also need to concentrate our efforts and capacities – to create hubs, if you like, with the resources and critical mass to make a real difference.
You can see where I’m heading with this. TORCH is an exemplary initiative because it combines all these ingredients.
It expands our innovation capacity by linking industry to the academy, by linking Australian researchers to the global knowledge community, and by linking basic research to development and application.
It also builds on our existing strength in oncology research, which is world-class. This is important – we can’t do everything, so for maximum impact, we need to concentrate on what we do well.
Pfizer’s role in TORCH is a reminder of how important the pharmaceutical industry is to innovation in this country and around the world.
The company expects to spend $50 million on R&D in Australia this year, and it has committed $15 million over three years to TORCH.
The pharmaceutical industry as a whole spends $752 million a year on R&D, employs over 40,000 Australians and is our second biggest manufacturing exporter.
We want to see it prosper and grow.
Most of you will know that the Pharmaceutical Partnerships Program winds up next year and that funds no longer required by participating companies – about $3 million out of the original $150 million – have been returned to the budget.
So, where to from here?
What are the industry’s prospects?
Is there a case for further sector-specific support?
What’s the best way for Australia to compete internationally?
How can we increase collaboration between pharmaceutical companies, public sector researchers and bio-techs?
Our evaluation of the Pharmaceuticals Partnerships Program, the Review of the National Innovation System, and the work of the Pharmaceuticals Industry Strategy Group will all shed light on these questions.
The innovation system review is moving into the final consultation phase.
The deadline for written submissions was last month, and over 630 were received, including a substantial one from Pfizer – thank-you.
Dr Terry Cutler and his colleagues on the review panel will be conducting workshops to explore specific issues this month and the four international experts I have appointed to assist the panel are already contributing valuable information and insights.
The panel will deliver a Green Paper by the 31st of July and the government will respond with a White Paper by the end of the year.
The Pharmaceuticals Industry Strategy Group is being established to work with me and my department on a strategic plan for the pharmaceuticals industry. Our aim is to attract more R&D, clinical development and manufacturing to Australia.
The strategy group’s membership, terms of reference and timetable are being sorted out now. It is a pleasure to announce that Brian McNamee, CEO of CSL, has agreed to co-chair the group.
I am also pleased to announce that the Governor of Victoria, Professor David de Kretser, has agreed to be part of the conversation we have started about the future of our pharmaceutical industry.
Stakeholders will have the opportunity to make their views known to the strategy group, including through Medicines Australia. I expect the group to report to me by year’s end.
Apparently there is some disagreement among health professionals about whether cancer or cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in Australia.
The word on the street is that even Pfizer and the Peter Mac don’t see eye to eye on this – thank goodness they’ve decided to work together anyway.
Because what we know for sure is that one in three Australian men and one in four Australian women will develop cancer by the age of seventy-five.
We also know this is an area where innovation, industry, science and research are making a real difference.
Over half of all cancers diagnosed in Australia are treated successfully, and survival rates for some common cancers have increased by more than 20 per cent in the last two decades.
And now that we have the world’s largest pharmaceutical company and Australia’s largest and most prestigious cancer institute working as a team, those results can only get better.
It is a pleasure to launch this landmark collaboration, and it will be an even greater pleasure to follow its work.