Support for clinical trials
Through the Support for Cancer Clinical Trials program, the Australian Government provides $5 million per annum to build Australia’s capacity to undertake cancer clinical trials.
The first funding round of the Support for Cancer Clinical Trials program in 2005-06 provided support to Australia’s 10 multi-site, collaborative national cancer clinical trials groups.
A subsequent funding round in 2007 was conducted which provided continued funding to Australia's 10 existing multi-site, collaborative national cancer clinical trials groups.
Through the Support for Cancer Clinical Trials program, the Australian Government has funded the establishment of two new multi-site collaborative national cancer clinical trials groups - the Cooperative Trials Group for Neuro-Oncology and the Australia Sarcoma Study Group. More than 1,000 cases of neurological tumours - cancers affecting the brain and spinal cord - are diagnosed each year in Australia, with a high mortality rate. Sarcomas - malignant tumours affecting connective tissue such as muscle and bone - are diagnosed in more than 800 Australians each year, with a high proportion of cases occurring in adolescents and young adults. These groups have been provided with 12 month seed funding to support their establishment.
Cancer Australia is also undertaking specific work on increasing the involvement of consumers in cancer clinical trials.
Applications are now closed for Support for Cancer Clinical Trials - Existing National Cooperative Oncology Groups without continued funding until June 2010.
National Groups whose current funding agreements expire within the next ten months were eligible to apply.
The Australian Government has committed up to $7.5 million (GST exclusive) per annum to support Australia’s capacity to conduct industry-independent cancer clinical trials.
Currently there are twelve Multi-site, Collaborative National Cancer Clinical Trials Groups supported under this program. They are:
- Australasian Gastro-Intestinal Trials Group
- Australasian Leukaemia and Lymphoma Group
- Australasian Lung Cancer Trials Group
- Australia and New Zealand Melanoma Trials Group
- Australia New Zealand Gynaecological Oncology Group
- Australian and New Zealand Children’s Haematology and Oncology Group
- Australian and New Zealand Germ Cell Cancer Trials Group
- Australian New Zealand Breast Cancer Trials Group
- Australian Sarcoma Study Group
- Cooperative Trials Group for Neuro-oncology
- Psycho-Oncology Co-operative Research Group; and
- Trans-Tasman Radiation Oncology Group.
The funding provided by Cancer Australia is intended to support the Groups to build their capacity to conduct cancer clinical trials in Australia. Funding support provided may include:
- trial design and protocol development, including travel for face-to-face meetings or seminars/ workshops;
- salaries of key administrative personnel;
- education and training for personnel;
- office infrastructure, communications and equipment; and
- relevant IT support.
An application form and application guidelines are below. Applications are now closed.
Application package:
Cancer Australia Chair in Cancer Quality of Life
Professor Madeleine King has been appointed to the position of Cancer Australia Chair in Cancer Quality of Life for three years. The chair will be based at the University of Sydney, within the national Psycho-Oncology Co-operative Research Group, which has created a Quality of Life Office. The Cancer Australia Chair in Cancer Quality of Life will provide expert advice and support to the multi-site, collaborative national cancer clinical trials groups funded under the Support for Cancer Clinical Trials program, to initiate and incorporate quality of life studies into cancer clinical trials. A diagnosis of cancer and its treatment has a considerable impact on the quality of life of individuals, their families and carers.
Quality of life encompasses physical and psychological functioning, and supporting research and clinical trials in this area helps identify effective interventions which can improve cancer outcomes.
Quality of Life resources
Cancer Australia has funded the Psycho-Oncology Co-operative Research Group to develop a number of resources to support researchers in assessing health-related quality of life and other patient-reported outcomes in cancer. The Psycho-Oncology Co-operative Research Group is especially keen to hear from researchers on how the resources might be improved, or added to, to better meet researchers’ needs. The resources are available here.
The resources include:
- Frequently Asked Questions, e.g
- How do I choose which health-related quality of life questionnaire to use in my study?
- How do I assess symptoms / psychological distress /supportive care needs in people with cancer?
- The EORTC QLQ and FACIT measurement suites compared
- Health-related quality of life issues and disease-specific questionnaires for a number of cancer types
- Links to health-related quality of life-related websites (including questionnaire websites and databases);
- Further reading list (including links to full-text articles where these are available online).
Cancer Clinical Trials Development Unit
The establishment of this unit heralds an exciting opportunity for consolidating expert advice, support and trial development to new clinical trials groups, as well as mentoring and support in the area of health economics and pharmaco-economics for all trials groups funded under the Support for Clinical Trials program. As part of the Support for Cancer Clinical Trials program, the services of a Cancer Clinical Trials Development Unit have been engaged to provide:
- expert advice, support and trial development services for the newly established multi-site, collaborative national cancer clinical trials groups, and
- expert advice, mentoring and support services in the area of health economics and pharmaco-economics for both new and existing multi-site, collaborative national cancer clinical trials groups funded under the program.
The Unit’s services will be provided jointly by the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, The University of Sydney and the Centre for Biostatistics and Clinical Trials, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. The coordination of Cancer Clinical Trials Development Unit services will afford economies of scale in the provision of technical advice and support to the multi-site, collaborative national cancer clinical trials groups. The Unit will assist the new national groups to build their capacity to design and conduct quality cancer clinical trials and will help all national cooperative trials groups to gather economic evidence for future decision making. Other services from the Unit can be purchased by existing groups.