Launching clinical trials in Hobart

July 2021 saw the introduction of a clinical trials program at Icon Cancer Centre Hobart, the first private oncology clinical trials unit in Tasmania.

In its infancy, the trials program at Hobart, delivered by an experienced clinical research coordinator and seven investigators, has forged important partnerships with key industry and collaborative group sponsors and has opened several trials across a broad portfolio including breast, skin, urothelial, prostate, lung, colorectal and upper GI clinical trials. Medical Oncologist, A/Prof Louise Nott has been instrumental in the establishment of the research portfolio, and it is thanks to this strong leadership that Hobart has been the site selected for 20 studies during 2021, five of which were activated within the year and the remainder due in the first quarter of 2022.

This addition to the Tasmania cancer care landscape will improve access to cancer care and further eliminate the need to travel interstate to access clinical trial opportunities.

A/PROF LOUISE NOTT

BMedSci, MBBS(Hons), FRACP Medical Oncologist

A/Prof Nott is widely published and has acted as a Principal Investigator / Sub Investigator on over 50 oncology clinical trials across industry, collaborative and academic sectors. She holds an Honorary Associate position at Sydney Medical School and is a University Associate with the Menzies Research Institute in Tasmania.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Second highest recruiting centre across Australia for the CANVACCS study - a survey examining patient perspectives on COVID-19 vaccination during the 2021 vaccine rollout, with 280 Hobart patients participating.

Future publications co-authored by A/Prof Nott on vaccine hesitancy amongst Australian patients with breast cancer are planned for 2022

• 2021 saw the first patient recruitment to the lidERA clinical trial, which aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of giredestrant compared with standard adjuvant endocrine monotherapy in patients with estrogen receptor positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer

TRIALS ACTIVATED IN 2021

ANZUP 1907 / RetroPSMA A retrospective study to identify clinical predictors of early metastatic disease using PSMA PET imaging

CANVACCS CANcer patients’ perspectives on corona virus VACCination Survey

GO42784 / TRIO045 / liDERA A Phase III, Randomized, Open-Label, Multicenter Study Evaluating the Efficacy and Safety of Adjuvant Giredestrant Compared With Physician's Choice of Adjuvant Endocrine Monotherapy in Patients With Estrogen Receptor-Positive, HER2-Negative Early Breast Cancer MASC 03.18 / I-MAT A randomised placebo-controlled phase II trial of adjuvant avelumab in early-stage Merkel cell carcinoma

ORBIT-M Optimal Response Biome for ImmunoTherapy in Melanoma