ACTA Chair Prof John Zalcberg has enthusiastically welcomed the announcement from the Australian Government Department of Health of a five-year, $42m program to support international investigator-initiated clinical trial collaborations.
The competitive grant opportunity will provide support for Australian research teams to conduct clinical trial research in collaboration with international counterparts. Applications must propose a single clinical trial that will promote Australian involvement in international collaborative investigator-initiated clinical trials research through the establishment and coordination of clinical trial site/s in Australia. They must also provide high-quality evidence of the effectiveness of novel health treatments, drugs or devices in ‘usual care’ settings, which will support a decision on whether to deliver the intervention in an Australian setting.
“This is great news and something ACTA has been advocating for quietly and, it seems, effectively for some time. It will be a substantial boost and encouraging for clinician-researchers,” said Prof Zalcberg.
The program will provide up to $42 million for grants under the ICTC grant opportunity over four financial years. It is anticipated that $4.2 million will be available in each Peer Review Cycle. One Peer Review cycle will be conducted in 2018, three Peer Review Cycles per calendar year in 2019, 2020 and 2021, and a final Peer Review Cycle in 2022.