NSW promotes its clinical trials credentials

Minister for Science and Medical Research Verity Firth has announced a major new initiative designed to encourage interstate and international pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to spend more of their research dollars in NSW.

Ms Firth said the soon-to-be established NSW Clinical Trials Business Development Centre represents the first salvo in a new, more aggressive strategy to promote NSW internationally as the ideal location for conducting clinical trials – an essential stage in all medical research.

“Researchers use clinical trials to evaluate new drugs, medical devices, and therapies on patients in strictly controlled scientific settings before taking them into the marketplace,” said Ms Firth.

Globally, the clinical trials industry is worth $10 billion and at present one in four clinical trials conducted in Australia are carried out in NSW. “From this solid foundation the Iemma Labor Government is determined to build NSW’s market share over coming years,” said Ms Firth.

“This new Centre represents a $1 million investment in the State’s rapidly maturing clinical trials sector, creating for the first time a single marketing entity and point-of-contact for overseas researchers and pharmaceutical companies.

“It will connect the world’s pharmaceutical companies and research centres to the full range of local clinical trials expertise – from the design and recruitment of clinical trials to their operation, management and statistical analysis.

“NSW is one of the most attractive locations in the world for such research. We offer well-equipped major teaching hospitals, highly skilled health professionals, strong intellectual property laws, and treatment and regulatory standards that meet US and European requirements.

“NSW also offers a large ethnically diverse population, satisfying the demographic needs of any clinical trial. But what really sets NSW apart is economics and reliability.  It is significantly more cost effective to conduct a successful clinical trial in NSW than in the US, Japan or Western Europe, with 80 per cent of locally conducted trials completed on time,” said Ms Firth.

The average cost of conducting a clinical trial in NSW is US$4,000 compared to US$5,000 in Germany; US$6,000 in the UK; US$6,700; and US$18,000 in Japan. “It’s not surprising then that many of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies have already chosen to base their Australian headquarters here in Sydney,” said Ms Firth.

“Underscoring this situation was the recent announcement by Australia’s leading diabetes vaccine research centre – the Diabetes Vaccine Development Centre (DVDC) – that it would be relocating from Melbourne to Sydney. Its move to Sydney will strengthen DVDC’s clinical research capacity as well as create a number of high skill jobs within NSW.”

The other elements of the Iemma Labor Government’s new, more aggressive strategy for attracting clinical trials to NSW are:

• Making strategic connections in the Asia/Pacific, with a strong focus on Japan;
• Exporting our skills and knowledge into new markets;
• Developing major clinical research networks, e.g. cancer, cardiovascular disease and spinal cord injury; and
• Attracting trial activity in line with the major burden of disease in this State.

“The Iemma Labor Government’s investment in scientific and medical research is all about strengthening the NSW economy as one built on the high-skilled, high wage industries of tomorrow – as opposed to one dependent on unpredictable and short term resource booms,” said Ms Firth.

NSW based clinical trials institutes include: the George Institute, the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research and the National Health and Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Centre.

See the NSW Clinical Trials Business Development Centre website for further information.