The federal government has announced $54.5 million will be invested from the Medical Research Future Fund for research into type 1 diabetes.
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Australia will receive $25 million to advance its Type 1 Diabetes Clinical Research Network.
An additional $4.5 million will be provided to JDRF Australia over three years to "assist with the strategic vision and national leadership of the research network."
Health minister Greg Hunt said an initial investment of $25 million will also be dedicated to broader diabetes research under the $125 million MRFF Targeted Translation Research Accelerator initiative. This is designed 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 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," said Mr Hunt.
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.