Federal funding marks new chapter for ZERO program

The Federal Government has announced a $112 million investment into the ZERO Childhood Cancer Program, a fully-fledged public scheme initially funded by The Kids’ Cancer Project. 

ZERO Childhood Cancer, founded in 2014, now ensures that all Australian children, adolescents and young adults are given access to clinical trials and potentially life-saving, effective treatment.  

A child enrolled in the ZERO program will have cancer and normal tissue samples sent for analysis at the Children’s Cancer Institute in Sydney, where clinicians determine the best course of action for each individual. Approximately 2,000 children have been supported by the ZERO program. 

The investment will see ZERO expanded to include researchers across all paediatric oncology centres around Australia. It will also ensure young people aged 19-25 will be able to be entrolled in the program, supporting an additional 300 young Australians with cancer each year. 

“I want to commend the Albanese Government for their support of ZERO Childhood Cancer and childhood cancer research by extension moving us closer to our mission of improving survival rates for all young people with cancer and allowing them to thrive after treatment,” says The Kids’ Cancer Project CEO, Owen Finegan. 

“First funded by The Kids’ Cancer Project in 2014, the ZERO program now ensures that every Australian child, adolescent and young adult is given access to cutting edge clinical trials with innovative and potentially less harmful treatments. 

“This month’s announcement underscores the importance of the program in realising our dream of no child dying from cancer.” 

Minister for Health and Aged Care, Mark Butler MP, says that the program is truly world-class. 

“The precision medicine that these world-leading programs make possible is a real game-changer in cancer care – particularly for children and adults with rare or otherwise incurable cancers,” he says. 

“This funding will improve health outcomes for people with rare and less common cancers, by increasing access to treatment options, including to otherwise restricted clinical trials that may increase quality of life and extend life expectancy.” 

The Federal Government has additionally pledged $30.8 million to extend PrOSPeCT, Australia's largest cancer genomics initiative led by Omico. PrOSPeCT offers free comprehensive genomic profiling to patients with advanced or poor prognosis cancers, helping identify targeted treatments. So far, it has matched therapies for over two-thirds of the 5,000 patients it has profiled.