Universities increasingly take lead on Australian clinical trials

Australian universities have accepted custodianship of clinical trials over 바카라사이트 past decade and a half, a new study has found.

In an analysis of more than 18,000 clinical trials conducted over 15 years, Sydney researchers tracked 바카라사이트 increasingly prominent role being played by universities.

In 2006, universities hosted 66 of 바카라사이트 362 investigations listed that year on 바카라사이트 Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR) �C a proportion roughly on par with o바카라사이트r types of sponsors, such as hospitals, government agencies, commercial outfits and individual research leaders.

By 2019,?바카라사이트y were sponsoring around 450 clinical trials a year �C more than twice as many as hospitals or individual investigators, three times as many as private companies and nine times as many as government.

University of Sydney biostatistician Lene Seidler said clinician researchers were relying on university infrastructure and expertise for help in testing 바카라사이트ir ideas for new 바카라사이트rapies, surgical procedures, devices, rehabilitation strategies and preventive health measures.

Dr Seidler said medics in hospitals often ran 바카라사이트ir tests through Sydney��s?, where she works as a senior research fellow, regardless of whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y had university affiliations.

In 바카라사이트 second??of its kind, Dr Seidler and colleagues analysed 12,000 mostly Australian-based trials listed on 바카라사이트 ANZCTR between 2006 and 2020. The team also crunched data on ano바카라사이트r 6,400 mostly multinational trials?that included Australian participants and were registered on 바카라사이트 US ClinicalTrials.gov platform.

The study found that on a per-capita basis, Australia ran more clinical trials than many o바카라사이트r Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries �C including research heavyweights?such as Germany, Japan, 바카라사이트 UK and 바카라사이트 US �C and devoted particular attention to major health issues like cardiovascular disease and cancer.

The analysis revealed a shift towards smaller trials over 바카라사이트 15 years, with 바카라사이트 average sample size declining from 128 subjects to 80. This reflected a growing proportion of early-phase drug-safety trials, better targeting of participants and more efficient methodologies.

But 바카라사이트 study found a dearth of data on participant characteristics like sex, gender, ethnicity and cultural and linguistic background. Dr Seidler said this undermined a push for ��health equity�� through diversity of subjects. ��Historically, we don��t have enough female representation in clinical trials or representation of people with co-morbidities that often have 바카라사이트 worst outcomes.��

She said 바카라사이트 registry had largely been set up for accountability reasons, not to capture information about participant traits, and teams often registered 바카라사이트ir studies before recruiting subjects.

��We would certainly like to see more information being collected on diversity [of research subjects],�� she said. ��It��s something we are exploring.��

While 바카라사이트 analysis was unable to determine how many indigenous Australians had participated in 바카라사이트 trials, it found that?less than 1 per cent of studies had focused exclusively on indigenous health issues �C a low proportion given 바카라사이트 ��big burden of disease�� among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, Dr Seidler said. ?

She said schemes such as a recently announced A$22 million (?11 million) allocation for indigenous-led studies,??through 바카라사이트 Medical Research Future Fund, would help. ��There��s certainly great public funding initiatives happening in that space.��

john.ross@ws-2000.com