Clinical Trials

Health Minister appoints Chair to National One Stop Shop Program

The Australian Government has appointed Emeritus Professor Ian Chubb AC, FAA FTSE to lead key reforms as Chair of the Inter-Governmental Policy Reform Group (IGPRG) for health and medical research, including clinical trials.

Minister for Health and Aged Care, The Hon Mark Butler MP on the selection and appointment said, “Professor Chubb has dedicated his career to improving health and medical research and education in this county and I am pleased he has agreed to share his knowledge and experience through the IGPRG.

Improved treatment in advanced-stage Hodgkin lymphoma

A global clinical trial successfully reduced toxicity and side effects in advanced stage Hodgkin lymphoma patients by using a modified treatment regimen.

Australian Health Journal spoke with Professor Mark Hertzberg in his role in the ALLG HD10 Clinical Trial and as a former Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Australasian Leukaemia & Lymphoma Group (ALLG), an organisation involved in improving the treatments and lives of blood cancer patients.

Redefining diversity in clinical trials

Ensuring inclusion, diversity, equity and patient input in the development of novel drugs and medical devices has become well accepted in health care. However appropriate implementation of these elements has been a challenge for many. Only by implementing these conscious inputs can patient outcomes be improved and health disparities in marginalised groups be addressed.

Australian Health Journal spoke to Gillian Mason, Consumer and Community Involvement Lead at Hunter Medical Research Institute in Newcastle, NSW on this topic discussed at the recent ARCS Conference in Sydney.

Stroke care advances in translated research

New nurse-led protocols for stroke patients, based on ACU research, led by the Nursing Research Institute, have resulted in changes to policy, guidelines and clinical practice in Europe and Australia. The protocols were developed through the Quality in Acute Stroke Care (QASC) Trial (published in the Lancet, 2011) to manage fever, hyperglycaemia and swallowing (FeSS) post-stroke.

Generosity of spirit in teaching

The Ramaciotti Medal for Excellence is considered one of the most prestigious awards in biomedical research in Australia and is highly sought after by researchers in the field.

In 2022, Professor Matthew Kiernan was the recipient of the Ramaciotti Medal for Excellence and the associated $50,000 award.

Australian Health Journal spoke with Professor Kiernan to hear about his journey in medicine and science to try and uncover and understand diseases and his generosity of spirit to pass on what he has learnt. 

Misinformation impacts routine vaccines

More significant changes in recent years have been health-related misinformation eroding trust in healthcare professionals, leading to people seeking alternative treatments or avoiding medical advice altogether. This can make it more difficult for healthcare professionals to provide effective treatment and care.

Recent vaccines delivered as part of the COVID-19 response, are having a consequential impact on the uptake of routine vaccines.

Australian Health Journal spoke with Dr Paul Griffin, an Infectious Diseases Physician and Microbiologist at Mater Health, and who has been involved in over 150 clinical trials in the field of infectious disease.

Paul talks about the importance of having reputable sources of information that can used to encourage people to understand what is involved in clinical trials and the roles of vaccines.

Strategic research investments for health and prosperity

The CEO of Research Australia, Nadia Levin spoke with Australian Health Journal about the following:

– Current medical research and development landscape in Australia
– Investment required to support the Health and Medical Research and Innovation pipeline
– The National Medical Products Industry Plan and its impact on the Australian economy
– The Health and Medical Research Workforce

In the lead up to the Australian Federal Budget in May 2023, Australian Health Journal reached out to peak health industry bodies to hear about their priorities, either noted in pre-budget submissions lodged with Federal Government in January 2023 or in recent forums such as the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce.

Making clinical trials participant friendly

Clinical trials are essential in developing new, improved, and more effective treatments and interventions. Without trials, researchers and professionals in the field cannot properly determine whether these new treatments and interventions are safe and effective.

The Clinials platform is geared towards patient centric trials and reducing site burden. The aim is to accelerate lifesaving medicines coming to market by connecting participants and researchers. The platform allows participants to come to researchers with their eligibility in hand among other capabilities.

Job-ready clinical trial interns

The Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre Alliance, or VCCC Alliance for short, is a Victorian partnership of 10 research, academic and clinical institutions looking at improving cancer outcomes for patients.

The VCCC Alliance SKILLED clinical trial internships program is a pathway for scientists to build role-specific clinical trial knowledge, experience and in a clinical trials unit through theoretical and on-the-job training. The internship program is a 40 week intensive program to get science student interns job ready for clinical trial assistant and study coordinator internship roles.

Entering The New Health Frontier

A new parliamentary report ‘The New Frontier: Delivering better health for all Australians’ is recommending significant reforms to the health care system to ensure Australians have better and faster access to the wave of new medicines and technologies.

The bipartisan report makes 31 recommendations to reform Australia’s system for the regulation and reimbursement with the hope that patients will receive faster access to the latest medicines and technologies.

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