Clinical trial plan is critical
November 22, 2011
MEDICINES Australia is pushing
for the completion of the Federal
Government’s plan to invigorate
clinical trials saying that the
recommendations of the Clinical
Trials Action Group (CTAG) hold the
key to ensuring the future of
clinical trials in Australia.
CTAG was set up by the
Government to help identify and
progress necessary reforms to
secure Australia’s competitiveness
in the clinical trials sector.
In March this year CTAG released
a report titled Clinically
competitive: boosting the business
of clinical trials in Australia, which
addressed four key issues including
the timeliness of clinical trial
approvals, the benefits of e-health
for clinical trials, improving patient
recruitment and the level of
support for clinical trials networks.
Although some recommendations
have been implemented, Medicines
Australia launched its own paper at
Parliament House last night titled
Keeping clinical trials in Australia:
why action is needed, which argues
that the Federal Government must
“finish the job”.
“The paper shows that the
recommendations being
implemented are starting to work,
but Australia can’t afford for this
issue to slip off the agenda,” said
Medicines Australia Chief
Executive, Dr Brendan Shaw.
“The CTAG plan represents a
precious opportunity to help
restore Australia’s international
reputation as a centre of excellence
for clinical trials.
“We are making some progress
towards that but it’s critical that we
don’t drop the ball,” Shaw added.
Backing up the argument for
immediate action the Medicines
Australia report shows that the
number of new clinical trials in
Australia has been declining over
the past three years by an average
of 13 per cent per year.
“It’s very much in the national
interest to reverse this trend,” said
Shaw.
“The Australian Medicines
Industry invests more than $1
billion a year in pharmaceutical
R&D, but we face increasing
competition from emerging
economies.
“We need a nationally
harmonised system of ethics
approval for multi-centre clinical
trials, so that trial sponsors need
one single approval instead of half
a dozen.
“We need to improve patient
recruitment and better national
coordination and greater
collaboration across trial networks,”
he added.
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