Building equitable cancer clinical trial access in regional Victoria
University of Melbourne researchers are leading two research streams in a collaborative program to undertake critical cancer-related clinical trials and clinical research in regional Victoria.
The five-year Regional Victorian Trials Alliance, Linkages, Special populations, Equity (ReViTALISE) Program was awarded $18.6 million from the Australian Governments Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) in October 2020, led by Dr Craig Underhill, Border Medical Oncology Research Unit and the Regional Trials Network – Victoria.
The program involves eight clinical centres in regional Victoria and partners with Metropolitan specialists and academics to deliver projects specific to regional and rural health care needs.
It will enhance and build networks between cancer trials units in the regional centres and facilitate and strengthen connections with metropolitan cancer teams and academics to support the establishment of training centres for regional health workers.
Two of those academics are Professor Jennifer Philip and Professor Mei Krishnasamy of the University of Melbourne Centre for Cancer Research.
The Regional Palliative and Supportive Care Research stream, led by Professor Philip, will enhance participating sites’ capacity to engage in research and clinical trials including the use of registry and teletrials, thereby supporting best practice evidence-based palliative and supportive care delivery,.
Providing regional palliative care patients with access to clinical trials will directly address issues of equity of access for a group of people who may have difficulty travelling yet still wish to participate in trials of emerging research practices.
The Regional Research Teaching Hub stream, led by Professor Krishnasamy, will build the capabilities of regional research teams to attract competitive research grants, therefore growing regional research activities and enhancing opportunities for more patients to take part in clinical research studies.
Leveraging off the success of the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre (VCCC) Nurse-Led Research Hub, the Training Hub will deliver a proven model of research capability training for multidisciplinary clinicians to become future leaders, impacting the quality, safety and efficiency of regional health care.
The ReViTALISE program will provide access to high-quality cancer trials and research to inform new and better ways of caring for and supporting patients.
Dr Craig Underhill, Director of Cancer Services at Albury Wodonga Health and lead of the ReViTALISE program, said it is a game changer for regional cancer patients and their carer givers.
“The ReViTALISE Program will expand the Regional Trials Network – Victoria to include Mildura Base Hospital and Latrobe Regional Hospital covering a population of 1.7 million people,” said Dr Underhill.
“The funding will result in more cancer clinical trials in regional Victoria resulting in improved health outcomes for regional Australians and bridging the metro-regional trials gap by 2025.”
The ReViTALISE Program was developed by a diverse group of people driven by the disparity in cancer outcomes in regional Victoria.
The Regional Trials Network – Victoria is a network of six Regional Clinical Trial sites: Ballarat Regional Integrated Cancer Centre (BRICC); Barwon Health – Andrew Love Cancer Centre; Bendigo Cancer Centre; Border Medical Oncology Research Unit – Albury Wodonga Regional Cancer Centre; Goulburn Valley Health – Peter Copulos Cancer and Wellness Centre; South West Regional Cancer Centre (SWRCC). This funding is enabling expansion to include Latrobe Regional Hospital and Mildura Base Hospital in the ReViTALISE program.