Is lung cancer losing its status as the ‘poor cousin’?

Lung cancer

By Geir O'Rourke

10 Feb 2023

Funding for research into lung cancers has risen sharply in Australia, with five times more studies active in the field than two decades ago, new figures show.

Meanwhile, research funding across all cancer types has increased three-fold since 2003-05, although the increase has been far from even across all tumour types.

The data is from Cancer Australia’s latest funding audit, which also reveals that NSW has become the leading destination for oncology research money, receiving 43% of the total national spend in 2018-20.

This compared with 25% in 2003-05, with every other state and territory’s funding share consistently dwindling since then, according to the agency (link here).

The audit, which involved 124 research organisations, found 4,813 cancer research projects and programs were funded across Australia between 2012 and 2020 costing $2.12 billion in total.

Some $934 million of that was dispersed in 2018-20 alone, a huge increase on the $292 million distributed in 2003-05, it found.

And some of the sharpest increases were in lung cancer, albeit from the low base of just $2.5 million in 2003-05, with just 22 research projects active in the field.

By 2018-20, this figure had risen to $32 million, which was funding 106 projects in total, the audit found.

The proportion of resources being directed to most cancer types changed between 2003-05 and 2018-20 (full details below).

  • Breast cancers: decreased from 30% to 16%
  • Haematological cancers: increased from 17% to 22%
  • Colorectal cancers: decreased from 12% to 8%
  • Genitourinary cancers: decreased from 12% to 7%
  • Skin cancers: stayed at around 10%
  • Gynaecological cancers: increased from 5% to 8%
  • Lung cancers: increased from 2% to 6%
  • Brain and central nervous system cancers: increased from 5% to 7%
  • Head and neck cancers: stayed at around 2%
  • Cancer of unknown primary: increased from 0.1% to 1%
  • Musculo-skeletal cancers: stayed at around 1%

Other key findings were that state and territory governments are becoming increasingly important funders, accounting for 13% of the total spend in 2018-20, compared to just 3% in 2003-05.

The same was true for foundations like the Leukemia Foundation and Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, while medical research institutes and universities also boosted their share of the total spend.

On the other hand, Australian researchers had become far less reliant on contributors overseas to pay for their work, as international contributions fell from $37.6 million in 2003-05 to $25.2 million in 2018-2020, the report found.

The Australian Government was the largest funder of cancer research projects and research programs, providing 58% of the direct funding identified in the audit. Some 88% of cancer research projects and programs were funded by a single identified funding source.

Cancer Australia CEO Professor Dorothy Keefe said the audit would provide an evidence base for improving resource allocation in the future.

“The findings of this new report show us that while there have been significant improvements in diagnosis, treatment and survival for a number of cancer types, there are areas where continued efforts are needed to reduce the impact of cancer in Australia,” she said.

“We know that research, evaluation and the use of data help our health system to meet current and future health challenges for all Australians affected by cancer.”

Around $900,000, or 0.1% of the total research funding pool, came from philanthropy.

Tumour type 2003–2005 2006–2008 2009–2011 2012–2014 2015–2017 2018–2020
Breast
Funding $33.4M $57.4M $85.9M $81.7M $81.9M $91.3M
No. projects/
programs
167 309 317 293 332 287
Leukaemia
Funding $15.3M $20.8M $39.7M $40.5M $50.5M $67.9M
No. projects/
programs
81 78 141 159 181 180
Brain
Funding $1.5M $4.9M $11.3M $20.0M $19.8M $54.1M
No. projects/
programs
10 32 61 81 105 161
Melanoma
Funding $8.5M $19.1M $24.6M $29.2M $41.8M $52.3M
No. projects/
programs
40 55 89 83 101 98
Colorectal
Funding $13.6M $26.7M $47.2M $36.0M $23.7M $43.6M
No. projects/
programs
76 79 120 118 114 141
Prostate
Funding $13.2M $25.8M $41.6M $28.7M $41.2M $34.2M
No. projects/
programs
82 122 195 126 188 161
Ovary
Funding $2.2M 7.2$M $11.7M $16.4M $25.4M $31.2M
No. projects/
programs
20 31 42 62 73 84
Lung and mesothelioma
Funding $2.5M $7.8M $16.3M $14.8M $21.1M $30.9M
No. projects/
programs
22 48 78 69 81 102
Pancreas
Funding $0.8M $1.9M $5.3M $5.8M $9.8M $17.0M
No. projects/
programs
7 19 22 18 52 65
Blood (other than myeloma, leukaemia, and lymphoma)
Funding n.d. $0.5M $0.1M $3.1M $7.0M $13.5M
No. projects/
programs
0 2 1 4 6 4
Lymphoma
Funding $0.7M $2.9M $3.4M $5.6M $7.3M $15.2M
No. projects/
programs
11 17 20 27 32 36
Myeloma
Funding $1.3M $3.2M $3.0M $2.6M $6.8M $14.7M
No. projects/
programs
12 9 17 15 21 42
Liver
Funding $1.1M $2.5M $7.2M $9.0M $7.8M $11.4M
No. projects/
programs
10 15 29 24 28 39
Neuroblastoma
Funding $1.9M $3.9M $4.7M $9.0M $6.7M $10.5M
No. projects/
programs
10 6 16 18 18 27
Stomach
Funding $1.5M $3.9M $5.6M $5.0M $5.5M $7.2M
No. projects/
programs
8 17 26 18 21 21
Skin (not melanoma)
Funding $1.3M $2.7M $4.8M $5.4M $9.5M $6.3M
No. projects/
programs
13 9 15 33 26 17

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