THE Abbott government has undercut its Labor predecessors in its first major announcement on medical research. The government yesterday announced 963 grants totalling $559 million under the National Health and Medical Research Council's major funding round for the year. This is about $100m less than Labor spent in each of the past two years. The Gillard government spent $652m in last year's October round and a record $674m in 2011, funding some 1140 grants each year. However, NHMRC funding allocations are staggered through the year, with another substantial round expected in December. The HES contacted Health Minister Peter Dutton's office to find out whether the shortfall in the October round would be made up in future rounds. It had not responded by yesterday evening. In a statement, Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Mr Dutton said the latest grants would be distributed across three research support schemes and five fellowship schemes. They said the projects were aimed at finding new and better treatments for diseases including cancer, diabetes, asthma, arthritis, cardiovascular disease, mental illness and dementia. "Supporting medical research is one of the best long-term investments in health that a government can make," the statement says. It says medical research is an essential part of the government's plan to build a "more diverse, world-class five pillar economy." The "pillars" are manufacturing, mining, education and research, agriculture and services. Yesterday's grants range from $50,000 to several million dollars, with most projects receiving six-figure sums. Top billing went to a Monash University-led project entitled "A study of Statins for reducing events in the elderly," which attracted over $5m. The bulk of funding went to 652 project grants, totalling $424m, which will support investigator-initiated research in clinical, biomedical and public health and services. Almost 300 fellowships attracted $127m to help "build a strong cohort of future researchers," the statement says. Six partnership project grants worth $4.5m will help researchers and policy makers "identify tailored, evidence-based solutions that improve health practice," while 12 European Union Collaborative Research Grants worth $4m will support Australian researchers in multinational research collaborations. Before the election, the Coalition guaranteed not to cut medical research funding. However, medical research has been included in the scope of the government's Commission of Audit, announced on Tuesday. Labor and the Greens say this suggests the government plans to go back on its commitments to maintain funding. Treasurer Joe Hockey said the government would stand by its pre-election pledges. "But it doesn't mean you can't identify waste and reallocate it to other priorities in the same portfolio," he told the ABC.