Ley said over 100 top Australian researchers and projects would share in the National Health and Medical Research Council grants.
"Australia's research sector continues to produce the knowledge, techniques and products that save lives and improve quality of life both today and for years to come," Ley said.
"It has been estimated that every $1 spent on health and medical research generates a health benefit valued at over $2.
"The Australian Government is proud to support our country's brightest health and medical researchers and the research that will help to deliver the next big breakthroughs in medicine."
The funding announced today includes $15 million for twenty-six research projects that aim to take treatments from an idea in the laboratory and translate them into commercially viable products.
"The important step of taking a concept to reality has the potential to create new highly-skilled jobs, export earning, new companies and even new industries in the future," Ley said.
"The opportunities and benefits that medical research provides Australia highlight the importance of the Government's commitment to the Medical Research Future Fund."
The schemes that comprise today's announcement range from supporting early career researchers to supporting research that is on the brink of commercialisation and include:
- $98.3 million to fund 11 Program Grants, which bring together leading researchers from diverse fields to collaborate on projects that are at an advanced stage of discovery.
- Development Grants worth $15.2 million to help 26 research projects make the leap from the laboratory to commercialisation.
- $6.4 million to support 69 early career researchers working towards their PhD or Master degrees through Postgraduate Scholarships.
- $1.3 million to fund two NHMRC-UK National Institute for Health Research collaborative research grants.
