I am pleased to share with you the 2021 Cancer Trials Australia Annual Report, released at our recent Annual General Meeting on 18 May, 2022.

Please click here to access the report

As our report describes, despite some ongoing obstacles posed by the continued global pandemic, CTA again flourished, and our staff are to be commended for their professionalism throughout sequential challenging years.

The 2021 calendar year saw growth in both CTA service provision and membership, welcoming Cancer Research South Australia and La Trobe Regional Hospital, and more recently Mildura Base Public Hospital.

Building on the back of growth across the previous four years, almost all CTA service metrics improved again in 2021.  There was a 31% increase in trial feasibilities, comprising predominantly Phase 1/2 studies. We coordinated a total of 250 HREC/Governance submissions across our service Members in 2021, up 9% compared to 2020; post approval activity continued to steadily increase, with a record total of 1,246 amendments submitted in 2021, up 12% compared to 2020; and cash transferred to our Member sites grew 16% to a new record of over $34M.

Our continued growth was achieved against the backdrop of a transformative information systems project. Together with Melbourne-based healthcare solutions company Cardiobase, we developed a customised software solution called Clinibase, which was subsequently deployed across our Victorian and New South Wales service Members, in both metropolitan and regional settings. Clinibase significantly reduces administration of tracking and managing participant activity data for clinical trials, and improves data insights gathered for trials, with ongoing updates planned. You can read further details about this transformation within our annual report.

Cancer Trials Australia remains better positioned than ever to continue to support growing clinical trial activity across our expanding membership, helping to ensure Australia remains a destination of choice for clinical trials and securing earlier access to novel therapies for Australian patients.

I thank all CTA staff, as well as our network Member personnel, for all the hard work they undertake that is essential to enable the CTA network to prosper.

Kurt Lackovic PhD MBA GAICD
Chief Executive Officer