Cancer Institute NSW and the state government will work to develop a state-wide biobanking framework, as part of a New South Wales Health and Medical Research Strategic Review published on 3 June.
The NSW government will also allocate AU$37.3 million per year over the next four years to the Medical Research Support Program, which provides infrastructure funding to independent medical research institutes, it said in its response to the review.
Other recommendations the government has said it will implement include AU$1m annually over four years to set up a research capacity building programme, with the objective of attracting and retaining leading researchers.
The government will earmark AU$5m per year over the same period towards a seeding fund to support researchers and encourage additional investment in medical devices that aid the discovery of treatments and techniques for diagnosis that will ultimately improve patient outcomes.
The review includes plans to establish an Office for Health and Medical Research, which will be responsible for the implementation of initiatives in the strategy and ensure the participation of the health and medical research sector.
The strategy will be unfolded over the coming decade, with key initiatives to be funded and implemented over the next four years.