I am pleased to share with you our 2023 Annual Report, released at our recent Annual General Meeting on 22 May, 2024.

Please click here to access the report.

The 2023 calendar year saw continued growth in both CTA membership and our service provision.  We welcomed four additional members across 2023, three of which were based in N.S.W.  The CTA network maintains strong representation across all major Australian states and New Zealand.  Importantly, more than 30% of our Members are situated in rural or regional locations.

A total of 257 clinical trial submissions were supported across 2023, an 8% increase over the previous year.  Amendments grew 5%, patients recruited to CTA supported studies grew 46%, and total clinical trial funding administered on behalf of our Member sites grew 15% to a new record of over $52M.

None of the above would be possible without a dedicated staff cohort, who are to be commended for delivering another successful year. CTA enjoyed relatively low staff turnover, which underpins our ability to deliver a high quality service to our sites.

Other major highlights for 2023 included (i) taking administrative carriage of the Australian Clinical Trial education Centre (A-CTEC) as that program expanded nationally, (ii) expanding our Developmental Therapeutic Update Dinner series, which allowed highlights from major international meetings to be shared with our wider network, and (iii) releasing an Advanced Reporting Tool within Clinibase, ensuring our Members can rapidly generate customised trial activity reports.

The success of our efforts with Clinibase positioned CTA perfectly to take responsibility for collecting Victorian-wide cancer clinical trial data.  This project began in early 2023, in close partnership with the Victorian Cancer Agency within the Department of Health Victoria, building on the Cancer Council Victoria’s significant efforts in this space since 1988.

Cancer Trials Australia remains better positioned than ever to continue to support growing clinical trial activity across our expanding membership, helping to secure earlier access to novel therapies for Australian cancer 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 flourish.

Kurt Lackovic PhD MBA GAICD
Chief Executive Officer