NSW Government Invests $13.39 Million for Rare Disease and Cancer Therapies

SYDNEY, NSW – June 20, 2025 – The New South Wales (NSW) Government today announced a significant investment of A$20.7m ($13.39m) in the 2025-26 Budget to enhance access to life-changing specialized therapies for rare blood cancers, blinding eye conditions, and high-risk neuroblastoma.

This crucial funding aims to ensure NSW patients with these conditions, who often have limited or no other treatment options, can receive highly specialized care. This new investment comes in addition to the $25 million in recurrent funding allocated in the 2023-24 Budget.

Targeting Rare Conditions with Advanced Treatments

The therapies supported by this funding include:

• CAR T-cell therapies: For adults and children with rare blood cancers. These involve extracting a patient’s immune cells, modifying them in a lab, and reinfusing them to target and destroy cancer cells.
• Gene therapy: For rare blinding eye conditions, delivering a healthy gene copy to improve or restore vision.
• Complex biological product: For children with high-risk neuroblastoma, designed to bind to cancer cells and bolster the patient’s immune system.

These advanced treatments are available at NSW’s leading medical centers, including Royal Prince Alfred, Westmead Hospital, and the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network.

Rebuilding Health Services for Quality Care

Treasurer Daniel Mookhey emphasized the government’s commitment: “These are potentially life-changing treatments, and we are ensuring that anyone who needs them can access them. We are investing in advanced and innovative technologies, so patients have access to the best treatment possible.”

Minister for Health Ryan Park reiterated the importance of the investment: “We are ensuring patients living with rare and high-risk conditions can access highly specialised treatments to prolong and improve their lives. Without access to these therapies, many of these patients would have no viable treatment options.”

This funding is part of a broader NSW Government investment of over $800 million in essential health services in the 2025-26 State Budget, aimed at easing pressure on the public health system and addressing what the government describes as years of under-resourcing.