MEDIA RELEASE
Clinical researchers around Australia have welcomed the announcement this week that WA Health will provide vital seed funding to support development of the Australian Clinical Trials Alliance (ACTA).
ACTA’s Chair, Professor John Zalcberg, applauded the leadership of WA Health in helping to forge national collaboration to advance the role of public good clinical trials within the Australian healthcare system.
“All States and Territories need access to better evidence about which treatments work best, for whom and at what cost; clinical trials are a vital means for delivering high-quality, high-value healthcare” Professor Zalcberg said.
“This demonstrates the high level of support for clinical trials that exists in Western Australia. We are delighted that WA Health has joined VIC Health in leading the charge to raise the importance of public good trials to an appropriate level of recognition at the national level.”
ACTA has been established as a national vehicle to support investigator-initiated clinical trials and clinical quality registries in Australia. A community of 60 different networks representing more than 10,000 clinicians and researchers who collaborate to conduct vital public good clinical research across Australia have come together to support to the development of ACTA.
Two of the Founding Members and Directors of ACTA based in Western Australia – Professor Steve Webb and Adjunct Professor Nik Zeps - are committed to improving outcomes for patients in WA through better availability of reliable evidence about the effectiveness and comparative effectiveness of different treatment options.
“This sends a strong signal to the WA community that the WA Department of Health values clinical trials and sees them as integral to their wellbeing” Professor Zeps, Director of Research for St John of God Subiaco Hospital said earlier today.
Professor Webb, Senior Staff Specialist in Intensive Care at Royal Perth Hospital, has also welcomed the announcement from WA Health “[This] reflects the strong support of the WA Department of Health to improving health through conducting high quality clinical trials and is highly appropriate given the leading role that WA researchers play in multicentre clinical trials”.
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