On 20 May 1747, James Lind discovered that citrus fruit can cure scurvy, in what is considered the first randomized controlled clinical trial.
Fast-forward nearly 280 years, and Bayside Health Peninsula is conducting 83 active clinical trials, with around 50% in Oncology.
“What’s great about the opportunity to provide access to clinical trials locally is that patients can get access to cutting-edge, state-of-the-art treatment that is still in an evolving space or not listed on the PBS,” says Medical Oncologist Dr Jacqui Thomson.
“It means then that we can ensure that we give our patients best practice at all times.”
Over the past five years, Dr Thomson has been site Principal Investigator in 14 clinical trials, mostly in breast cancer, with four trials open now. While Dr Thomson was always interested in a career in medicine, as a junior doctor she found that working with the oncology patients was deeply rewarding.
“I could see a real difference, and it also gave me the opportunity to work with new treatments in a very evolving field,” she explains.
Bayside Health Peninsula is involved in both multinational and investigator-driven trials. Dr Thomson cites examples such as the Keynote 522 study – a trial treating people with triple negative breast cancer – as “practice-changing”.
“It was great to be part of that [and] then to come from that clinical trial into the standard of care that we’re seeing today,” says Dr Thomson.
While many of the current clinical trials at Bayside Health Peninsula are in Oncology, there are also trials running trials in Allied Health, Cardiology, Emergency Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Intensive Care, Respiratory and Surgery. Thirty-seven of these trials are recruiting participants.
Dr Thomson says that many patients are proactive in asking about clinical trials, and that some travel long distances to participate in the trials on offer at Bayside Health Peninsula.
“They’re actually doing a huge service to the science, hopefully benefiting themselves as well,” says Dr Thomson.
“It means that we’ll be able to keep developing better and better treatments, see less and less side effects, better outcomes, better survival,” she says.
May 20 is International Clinical Trials Day. You can read more about the day, and this year’s theme “Research Rising” on the official website.
A full list of currently recruiting clinical trials can be found here: Patients and Consumers – Clinical Trials – Bayside Health Peninsula.