Clinical trial activity in Victoria

Cancer Council Victoria has been supporting clinical trials research since 1977 and provides grants to over 20 hospitals throughout Victoria to conduct clinical trials. The Victorian Cooperative Oncology Group (VCOG) administer the funding scheme that gives grants to hospitals so they can offer trials to their patients. They also manage the Victorian Cancer Trials Link (VCTL).

In 2009:

• Twenty-five cancer treatment centres in Victoria participatated in our Cancer Trials Management Scheme, which has operated since 1988. The scheme distributes about $800,000 to cancer trial centres in the state.
• The Department of Human Services Cancer and Palliative Care Department, via the Victorian Cancer Agency, contributed around $200,000 to be distributed via the scheme. The remaining funds were a contribution from Cancer Council Victoria.
• 287 trials were reported as open to recruitment and a further 413 trials were not active but had patients on follow-up.
• Across the trials open to recruitment, a total of 1922 new patients were entered into clinical trials.  This was an 21.7% increase from 2008.
• Of the new patients entered into clinical trials, 29% were from rural sites (564 patients) with the remaining majority from Metropolitan treatment centres.
• The most current figure for cancer incidence in Victoria comes from 2007 data. The number of new participants recruited in 2009 represent 7.1% of total 2007 cancer incidence.

Click here if you would like to read our comprehensive Report on 2009 Clinical Trial Activity (published September 2010), or please call +61 (0)3 9635 5265 or email trialslink@cancervic.org.au.

 

How do I find cancer clinical trials in Victoria?

The Victorian Cancer Agency funded the Victorian Cooperative Oncology Group and the Clinical Trials Office to develop a clinical trial database to make it easier for cancer patients and clinicians to find suitable clinical trials.

The Victorian Cancer Trials Link (VCTL) was launched in December 2009, and is a searchable database of all cancer clinical trials being conducted in Victoria.

The information provided by this database enables patients, family members, carers and health professionals to identify suitable clinical trials quickly and easily. This information can then be printed off and taken to a treating doctor or used to obtain further details about clinical trials available. 

Click here to search for cancer clinical trials on the VCTL and find a clinical trial that "matches" your (or your patient's) specific situation.

 

How do you know if a clinical trial is safe and worthwhile?

Every clinical trial in Victoria, and Australia for that matter, must be approved and monitored by a Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC). A HREC is an independent committee of doctors, statisticians and community representatives, amongst others, who ensure the risks of a clinical trial are as low as possible and are worth any potential benefit.

They also ensure the trial is ethical and that the rights of study participants are being protected. Ethics committees protect the welfare and rights of participants by ensuring all aspects of a clinical trial comply with the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research. The National Statement was published by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in 2007 and its purpose is simply to 'promote ethically good human research'.

The Australian Health Ethics Committee provides support to Victorian Hospital HRECs to be able to review and approve research appropriately. For more information see http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/health_ethics/index.htm.

 

Who decides to start a trial in Victoria and how do they select the research topic?

Victoria is home to many cancer experts and many of them sit on one or more of the Victorian Cooperative Oncology Group’s (VCOG) cancer committees. Over 600 health professionals make up the VCOG membership and they are involved in all aspects of cancer care including starting and supporting clinical trials.

There are many types of clinical trials but the main focus here is on treatment trials. Treatment trials are usually started in 1 of 3 ways:

• a pharmaceutical company develops a promising new medication and wants to make it available to the public. Before this can happen, it must be thoroughly tested in clinical trials
• a specialist cancer doctor or scientist develops a new treatment in a laboratory and after it passes a number of tests in the laboratory wants to test the new treatment on humans in a hospital setting.
• a cancer specialist (medical oncologist, radiation oncologist, surgeon) is interested in testing an already approved cancer medication, device, treatment or technique on a different type of cancer. Or they are testing existing treatments in new combinations with each other. They may also be testing an approved treatment at an earlier or later point in time during the patient's cancer treatment.

 

More questions about clinical trials in Victoria?

Contact the Victorian Cooperative Oncology Group on +61 (0)3 9635 5265 or email trialslink@cancervic.org.au.

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