Life-saving clinical trials off the cards for country patients

John Robson thinks he’d be dead if not for the cutting-edge clinical trial that started near his home in Bendigo after he was diagnosed with stage 4C melanoma four years ago.

John Robson, 64, thinks he’d be dead if not for the cutting-edge clinical trial that started near his home in Bendigo after he was diagnosed with stage 4C melanoma.

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John Robson thinks he’d be dead if not for the cutting-edge clinical trial that started near his home in Bendigo after he was diagnosed with stage 4C melanoma four years ago.

“Honestly, my chances of beating this thing came down to going on a trial … I was happy to give it a go because it was in Bendigo,” Mr Robson told The Australian.

The 64-year-old counts himself lucky he had access to life-saving treatment brought to his backyard by TrialHub – a life-saving endeavour by Monash University and The Alfred to bring clinical trials to rural ­Australians.

“Without question my diagnosis was dire … I was told if I had received this diagnosis a few years ago, I would have just been told to go home and get my affairs in order,” Mr Robson said.

Travelling to Melbourne for the treatment would have been nearly impossible, as the side effects of treatment left him hospitalised multiple times, he said.

“To be that sick and have to go to Melbourne, while in such a difficult place emotionally, mentally and medically, honestly would have been torture – a torture that should be never inflicted on a person in that state.”

Mr Robson is one of hundreds of patients whose lives have been saved, or made immeasurably more comfortable, by TrialHub.

The service has supported sites to enrol more than 1100 cancer patients in clinical trials in rural and outer-metro regions and initiated over 70 trials for the treatment of cancer outside Melbourne.

Headed by Monash University’s Stephen Jane, TrialHub has received $16m in federal funding over five years and increased the number of cancer clinical trials outside of Melbourne from 42 to 130, but funding is set to end in mid-2025.

According to Professor Jane, the project has provided a replicable model for clinical trial hubs in regional centres that can operate independently of big cities and boost a $1bn industry.

The TrialHub model was “entirely transferable to other states and territories and across other diseases; in fact cancer clinical trials are often the most complex, so the model is easy to adapt to conditions like Alzheimer’s and diabetes,” Professor Jane said.

He said that Big Pharma investment “would only increase if we opened up trials into regional Australia”, as the trials “are an attraction to international pharmaceutical companies who already know Australia to be a world-class place to conduct clinical trials”.

Lenore Bryan, 84, from Mildura said she would have had to “drop off” and “let nature take its course” if the clinical trial hub in Bendigo did not exist.

Lenore Bryan, 84, said she would have had to “drop off” and “let nature take its course” if the clinical trial hub in Bendigo did not exist. Picture: Supplied

“I’m just so very appreciative of our Mildura-based hospital in their abilities to keep this system going in Mildura. It is absolutely essential to the wellbeing of us in regional Victoria,” she said.

Travelling to Melbourne for treatment was financially impossible for many in her community, Ms Bryan said.

“You’ve got the travel, you’ve got accommodation, and I suppose you need an extended bank balance,” she told The Australian.

“I hear of other towns that haven’t got this service, and I just think, my god, how could you cope?”

TrialHub2 is seeking $18m funding for five years from 2025 to develop regionally based clinical trial centres nationally, which would grow the billion-dollar ­industry.

Ms Bryan said the government should keep investing in regional communities, and called for “more endeavours by a multiple of services to keep maintaining a lifestyle that each and every one of us deserve to have”.

The clinical trial has allowed Ms Bryan to go back to her daily routine. She starts her day down at her local coffee shop and often attends luncheons with her friends.

Mr Robson urged the government to continue funding for “the sake of ordinary people like myself”.

“Please don’t throw away all the hard work that’s been done over the years because, as we’ve learnt, once it’s gone, it’s gone,” he said.