Peter Mac researcher awarded $1.9 million to put patients at the centre of cancer medicine decisions
29 January 2026
Professor Gang Chen, a health economist from the Centre for Health Services Research in Cancer at Peter Mac, has received nearly $2 million in federal funding to improve how decisions are made about funding new cancer medicines in Australia.
The grant, awarded through the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), will support a project called ALPACA that will ensure what matters most to people with cancer is better reflected in decisions about which treatments are publicly funded.
Cancer is the leading cause of disease burden in Australia, and while spending on cancer medicines continues to rise, not all patients can access new treatments quickly or fairly. Professor Chen said current systems often focus heavily on clinical trial results, while overlooking patients’ real-world experiences and preferences.
“Too often, decisions about cancer medicines are made without fully understanding how treatments affect people’s daily lives,” Professor Chen said.
“We aim to improve this by listening directly to patients and using their experiences to inform funding decisions.”
The ALPACA project will collect patient-reported outcomes such as quality of life as well as patient preferences about different treatment options. This information will be gathered through a Peter Mac co-designed online portal, built with input from people living with cancer.
The project will focus on three common cancers – breast, melanoma and lung.
These areas are seeing rapid development of new treatments where differences between medicines can sometimes be small. In these cases, understanding patient preferences about issues like toxicity, administration methods and impact on daily life becomes especially important.
Professor Chen said the goal is to create a more person-centred and transparent approach to health technology assessment.
“We’re aiming for fairer and more sustainable access to cancer treatments by making sure patient voices are part of the evidence used in funding decisions,” he said.
“This project brings together patients, clinicians, economists and policymakers to design a system that truly reflects what people value.”
Consumer involvement will be embedded throughout the project alongside a multidisciplinary team of researchers, clinicians and policy experts from Peter Mac.
Project Chief Investigator Team: Professor Gang Chen (CI-A), Dr Julia Lai-Kwon (CI-B), Dr Fanny Franchini (CI-C), Dr Hadi Akbarzadeh Khorshidi (CI-D), Ms Sophy Athan (CI-E, Consumer Leader), Professor Kim Dalziel (CI-F), Professor Grant McArthur AO (CI-G), Professor Benjamin Solomon (CI-H), A/Professor Marliese Alexander (CI-I), Associate Professor Anita Skandarajah (CI-J), Associate Professor Lisa Devereux (CI-K), Professor Karin Thursky (CI-L), Associate Professor Ashley Ng (CI-M), Professor Jayesh Desai (CI-N), Professor Maarten IJzerman (CI-O).
Professor Chen also holds a position with the Collaborative Centre for Genomic Cancer Medicine, a joint venture of the University of Melbourne and Peter Mac.