Neuroblastoma takes the lives of more children under five than any other cancer, surely the government and pharmaceutical companies provide all the support researchers need to find a cure? The short answer is no. It’s a shock to learn that children, particularly those with rare diseases like neuroblastoma, come last in the world of cancer research. That’s why we do what we do. 

We fund leading research projects using our Scientific Advisory Board and select the very best projects. We play a key role in pre-clinical neuroblastoma research in Australia.

“The support of Neuroblastoma Australia of our group over a decade, has been absolutely invaluable in helping us to understand new mechanisms underlying the growth and aggressive behaviour of neuroblastoma, and to develop new treatments to target these mechanisms which have translated to a number of completed, current and planned clinical trials. We are indebted to Neuroblastoma Australia for working with us so closely towards our common goal of one day making neuroblastoma a completely treatable and hopefully preventable disease.” - Professor Michelle Haber

A word from the Children’s Cancer Institute

Professor Murray Norris AM, Deputy Director of the Children’s Cancer Institute explains the importance of research.

 

Funding for childhood cancer in Australia

There are three sources of Australian government funding for cancer research:

- the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
- Cancer Australia
- the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).

The above organisations have invested the following amounts in childhood cancer research between 2014 and 2018:

• The NHRMC invested $51.22 million out of $899. 46 million which is just 5.7%.     
• Cancer Australia invested $13.4 our of a total $63.91 million. That's 20.9%  
• The MRFF (started 2016) spent $9.3 million out of $79.2 million in total, That's only 11.7%.  

What this means is that overall, government cancer research during this period was $1042.57 million and childhood cancer research accounted for just $73.92 million which is only 7.09%.

Children come second in the world of research but we believe every child deserves the right to grow up  - for that to happen, more research is urgently needed.

What you can do

What we are doing

Thanks to the generous donations of our supporters and with the advice of our Scientific Advisory Board, Neuroblastoma Australia is able to fund a range of research projects.

Our grant round takes place every two to three years, depending on the success of general fundraising and events such as Run2Cure. The last grant round was in 2022, we therefore expect the next one to happen in either 2024 or 2025.

Take a look at the research projects here