Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is set to announce a $250 million fund to advance medical research, with a vision to eventually replace or regenerate damaged human organs.
Mr Rudd will make this announcement in Brisbane on Tuesday as an initial response to the McKeon Review of Health and Medical Research.
The centrepiece will be a $250 million investment fund, comprising $125 million of government investment with a matching sum from the private sector.
Mr Rudd believes it will deliver health benefits plus new jobs and economic benefits for Australia.
He says in the 20th century advances in immunisation and medicine were a driving force for improving human welfare.
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In the 21st century, the next frontier for medicine will be biological medicine-regenerative medicine and genomics, he says.
Mr Rudd thinks Australia can play a leading role in this next frontier.
"We have some of the best scientists in the world and a track record of great medical breakthroughs," he says.
The prime minister thinks Australia needs to back researchers with the vision and investment they need to take their ideas from the laboratory to the doctor's surgery.
Mr Rudd points to the work of leading researchers such as Professor Melissa Little of the University of Queensland's Institute for Molecular Bioscience.
Her team has been convincing tissue cells they are kidney stem cells, and introducing these into the patient to replace damaged cells to regenerate the organ.
"This work is an example of the kind of breakthroughs that are on the horizon and can be achieved with government support," the prime minister says.
Mr Rudd said currently the only treatment for end-stage kidney disease was dialysis or transplant, treatment which cost the federal government an estimated $12 billion in the period 2009-2020.
