Today, Friday 20 May, is International Clinical Trials Day. My research team and I view this as an opportunity to celebrate the industry and the many research professionals around the world who are dedicated to good clinical practice in trials. Because when clinical researchers move ahead, medicines move ahead. And that’s good for all of us! Clinical research and clinical trials are an important step in developing new treatments to advance medical practice within Australia and globally. A clinical trial is a study that thoroughly evaluates the safety and effectiveness of different medical interventions in real settings. If a clinical trial proves that a medical test or treatment is more effective than existing options, it may become the new standard of medical practice for patients in the future.
Clinical trials are the foundation of modern prescribing and therapeutic guidelines. In a clinical trial, the investigational treatment can be compared to the existing ‘’gold standard” treatment. For the objective comparison between the new and standard treatment to be robust, clinical trials involve multiple medical sites, a large patient population and the prospective collection of data. A clinical trial may be conducted as a single blind, where the participant does not know which study group they are assigned to, or double blind, where both the trial team and participant do not know the treatment allocation.
Trials are governed by strict rules and ethics. Trials are conducted under an internationally recognised standard of practice called Good Clinical Practice. Each trial is independently approved by an Australian Human Research Ethics Committee.
Participants can experience several benefits when involved in clinical trials, such as early access to new medicine that may not be available in Australia or cost-prohibitive. Trial participants receive close surveillance of their overall health and their contribution to research helps to advance medical practice.
By offering clinical trials to our patients at Tasman Health Care, we are ensuring that we can provide early access to novel treatments for our patients close to their home, with the ultimate goal to bring new effective treatments to the wider community.
Here is a list of our current trials. Happy Clinical Trials Day!
To make an appointment with one of our Doctors, please contact us (07) 5613 2480 or reception@tasmanhealthcare.com.au.
