Regional Victorians step closer to breakthrough clinical trials
Sick regional Victorians will be given increased chances to access next-generation medicines for cancer and rare diseases under an expansion of Australia’s clinical trial program.
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Sick regional Victorians will be given increased chances to access next-generation medicines for cancer and rare diseases under an expansion of Australia’s clinical trial program.
The Morisson Government will announce a $25 million boost to roll out breakthrough clinical trials closer to the homes of people living in outer Melbourne, regional and remote Victoria.
As one of the world’s leading medical research cities Melbourne’s larger hospitals are able to offer desperate patients first access to experimental or emerging treatments through clinical trials before they are approved for general use by regulators.
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Health Minister Greg Hunt said his government would provide the funding to support Australian Clinical Trials Network’s TrialHub program, building connections between leading trial centres and regional hospitals so the same opportunities can be extended further afield.
The program is a collaboration between Monash University and Alfred Health to increase the number of clinical trials in Victoria.
“Clinical trials are the vehicles through which advances in medical science are translated to the benefit of patients and their communities, providing essential conduits from scientific discovery to improved health outcomes for all,” Mr Hunt said.
“Patients with poor access to clinical trial programs don’t always gain early access to breakthroughs in medical treatment that can be lifesaving.
“The program will create partnerships with regional hospitals to expand the reach and participation in clinical trials allowing patients from all over Victoria access potentially lifesaving treatments.”
Under today’s announcement hospitals in Rosebud, Casey and Bendigo will be the first to partner with the TrialHub, allowing patients to join the latest trials of breakthrough medicines without having to travel into Melbourne tertiary hospitals.
TrialHub’s initial focus will be on rare cancers and other rare diseases, prostate cancer and melanoma.
The Alfred hospital currently has patients enrolled in 350 open clinical trials and its chief executive officer Prof Andrew Way said expanding TrialHub would see smaller centres able to
operate as an extension.
Prof Way said larger regional or suburban hospitals may also be able to join larger national and international trials independent of Melbourne hospitals where they have enough patients suited to the treatment, or the governance required to oversee the research directly.
“We are trying to create a facility that we allow patients engage directly with knowing what is going on with their condition, and then supporting them in going back to their clinician or the people running the trial,” Prof Way said.
“It may be that a trial is running in several centres and there is a centre much nearer to you than the obvious.”