Senator slams medical research hand-outs

Medical researchers who want the "politics" removed from the funding issue should stop taking taxpayer money and turn to private sources, says a crossbench senator.

Australian of the Year, biomedical scientist Alan Mackay-Sim, says he will spend the year advocating for greater public investment in medical research and calling for the funding to be extended "much longer than the political horizon".

Liberal Democrats senator David Leyonhjelm said government funding of medical research was "bound to be a poor investment".

"Everyone loves medical research," Senator Leyonhjelm told AAP on Friday.

"But world's best practice is the American model in which research is largely funded by philanthropy and private donations.

"When governments fund research we create bureaucracies and scientists who operate with all the efficiency we have come to expect from the public service."

Senator Leyonhjelm said a study had shown for every $100 of government funding, private donations go down by $73.

"It's concerning to see that after pouring more and more money into the field, the only thing we seem to be producing is a greater sense of entitlement amongst our researchers," he said.

"Very few medical research projects produce tangible results because it is a difficult field that is globally competitive.

"Creating a huge pool of money to be dispensed by bureaucrats will just divert good scientists from worthwhile research in other areas that probably have better prospects."

Professor Mackay-Sim said on receiving his award that developing new treatments could reduce future health costs.