Avance Clinical Invited to Present “Decentralized Trials – No Going Back” for Oracle Health Sciences Connect

The leading Australian CRO for biotechs and Frost & Sullivan Asia-Pacific CRO Market Leadership Award winner Avance Clinical has been invited to present on the future of decentralized clinical trials at the Oracle Health Sciences Connect conference.

Title: Decentralized Trials – No Going Back
Link: 
https://www.oracle.com/in/industries/life-sciences/health-sciences-connect/sessions/
Time: 23 April, 2021 – 3.05 pm (Australia/Adelaide ACST).

Avance Clinical CEO Yvonne Lungershausen, shared the company’s insights on the future of Decentralized Clinical Trials (DCTs) and the technology and patient factors that will determine success. Avance Clinical uses the full range of eClincial technologies to support clients wanting DCTs or a site-based approach while still leveraging advance technology including ePro, eSource and eConsent.

“DCTs are fast becoming the new norm and this is an incredible opportunity for the drug development sector as well as the diverse and remote patient populations that will now have access to clinical trials,” said Lungershausen.

“The pandemic has been the catalyst in speeding up the adoption of decentralised clinical trial methods, as people stopped participating in trials and visiting clinics. Trials have stalled putting lives and significant investments at risk.”

Yvonne Lungershausen said there are considerable benefits to DCT’s including:

– Reduce the scheduling and travel burden on patients – providing care from the comfort of the patient’s home.
– Connecting patients to trials on a global scale – patients that were otherwise inaccessible under more traditional trial protocols are now available.

And she said challenges include:

– Missed human-to-human contact and continuity of patient care
– Investigational product distribution to more remote destinations
– Oversight of compliance and study procedures in the patient’s home

The presentation also covers advances in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, cloud computing and blood self-collection devices which are all revolutionising the decentralized clinical trial process.

– Wearable devices are demonstrating enormous potential whether worn as a wrist strap or an adhesive patch on the body. AI-embedded capabilities allow these devices to measure a patient’s heart rate or metabolism remotely. Linked to the cloud through secure networks, clinicians can receive and analyse the data real-time.
– Video calling and electronic reminders, can improve patient compliance in trials – prompting participants to take their medication at the right time or to record in their electronic diary development.
– Technologies are developing to allow patient-centric sampling (self-collection of specimens) with devices that require the use of a lancet and finger prick whereas others do not, making clinical trials even more convenient.

Take the Quiz – Test your Knowledge about Australian Clinical Trials here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Australian-Clinical-Trials

About Avance Clinical

Australia’s Avance Clinical has more than 20-years of experience and is now one of Australia’s leading Contract Research Organizations. Avance Clinical facilitates quality drug development by aligning people, skills, and expertise in the pursuit of drug development for a healthier world.

Avance Clinical is committed to providing high-quality clinical research services with its highly experienced team. The collective pool of knowledge and experience at Avance Clinical continually grows through the careful selection of experts who also demonstrate passion in their chosen field. Avance Clinical offers high-quality services in an established clinical trial ecosystem, that includes world-class Investigators and Sites able to access specialized patient groups. Learn more at http://www.avancecro.com.

Other benefits include:
1. The Government R&D grant means up to 43.5% rebate on clinical trial spend
2. Telehealth pivot during COVID-19 pandemic – speed and continuity
3. Site Initiation Visit (SIV) and Study Start achieved in 5-6 weeks
4. No IND required for clinical trials
5. Full GMP material is not mandated for Phase I clinical trials
6. Established clinical trial environment with world-class Investigators and sites
7. Established healthy subject databases and specialized patient populations
8. Five independent Phase 1 facilities across Australia including hospital-based units for critical care
9. Major hospitals with world-class infrastructures and dedicated Clinical Trial Units with a long track-record in FDA compliant research
10. Seasonal studies: Northern hemisphere Sponsors can conduct their studies year-round by taking advantage of Australia’s counter-flu and allergy seasons

Media Contact:
media@avancecro.com

MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore launches new research group, boosting nation’s cell therapies R&D

MIT’s Research Enterprise in Singapore, SMART, launches a new research group, Critical Analytics for Manufacturing Personalized-Medicine (CAMP), as part of Singapore’s National Cell Manufacturing Initiative to overcome scientific and technical challenges in life-changing cell therapies.

— S$10 million a year to be invested in SMART CAMP in a multi-year effort
— New interdisciplinary research group, SMART CAMP, will bring together 35 MIT and Singapore investigators
— Complementary and integrated programme with Singapore’s Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR) cell manufacturing effort, supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF) 
— SMART CAMP deploys MIT’s innovation methodologies in Singapore’s thriving biopharmaceutical industry, tapping market potential of billions a year.

SINGAPORE, July 15, 2019 – (Media OutReach) – Cell therapies, where cellular material is injected, grafted or implanted into a patient to treat a range of illnesses and medical conditions, are a vital and integral component of medicine today – promising treatment of tissue degenerative diseases, cancer, and autoimmune disorders.

However, significant challenges currently exist to prevent its widespread adoption including problems such as safety, potency, efficacy, and costs. To overcome these challenges, the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), together with A*STAR Institutes and supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF), has launched a new national initiative in Singapore that deploys MIT’s globally renowned applied innovation methodology combined with Singapore’s dynamic and growing biopharmaceutical manufacturing industry.

As part of the national initiative in cell manufacturing, CAMP is a new interdisciplinary research group within SMART that will focus on ways to produce living cells as medicine delivered to humans, leading to improved health outcomes. The National Research Foundation will support this multi-million, multi-year project that will bring together 35 MIT and Singapore investigators. They will be recruited from researchers working in SMART and Singapore institutes including A*STAR, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, the National University Hospital and local universities. Investigators from MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts will also be recruited to support the programme.

“This is a field that is ripe for innovation, and one which we believe will benefit from both MIT’s and Singapore’s strengths,” said Eugene Fitzgerald, CEO and Director of SMART. “By applying our problem-solving research methodology, coupled with Singapore’s well-established biopharmaceutical manufacturing ecosystem, we are confident that we will be able to achieve market-ready breakthroughs.”

Since its inception in Singapore in 2007, SMART has pioneered innovations that have transformed and are transforming fields such as autonomous driving, agriculture, microelectronics, mechanics and microfluidics platforms for biology and medical diagnostics, and antimicrobial resistance.

SMART CAMP will be helmed by Professor Krystyn Van Vliet of MIT and Professor Hanry Yu of NUS and A*STAR. Professor Van Vliet is an engineer with expertise at the interface of materials, mechanics, and biological systems and is an experienced leader, currently serving as the Associate Provost and the Director of Manufacturing Innovation at MIT. Her current research stemming from earlier SMART collaborations is in clinical trials at the Singapore General Hospital, and the prior SMART team that she led has spun off several MedTech companies in Singapore.

Professor Van Vliet explained, “By addressing critical technology bottlenecks in how the next generation of personalised medicines is made, SMART CAMP researchers will help set the standards for innovating on quality by design. Imagine providing just the right living cells – the most sophisticated drug factories we know – to each patient, as quickly and safely as possible. Delivering on that promise requires exciting changes in the way we understand, engineer, measure, and select cells that offer a safe and effective medicine for that person’s ailment. And that goal, in turn, benefits from this investment in the research and researchers that can transform the manufacturing and analytics of biopharma products.”

Professor Yu is a physiologist with expertise interface between mechanobiology, biomaterials, imaging and AI-based data analytics. He is also a serial entrepreneur, recently forming six companies, and the founding member of the Mechanobiology Institute Research Centre of Excellence in Singapore. 

“This programme integrates experts from various disciplines, training staff and students who can think through the translational pipelines from basic knowledge and technology into commercially viable and clinically relevant solutions”, said Professor Yu. 

“There is a global need for safe and cost-effective cell therapies,” said Dr. Khiang Wee Lim, Executive Director of CREATE, NRF. “We believe that it is an area in which Singapore can provide innovation space and bring these transformational technologies to millions around the world. Advances in this area will also boost Singapore’s biopharmaceutical industry, bringing innovations and helping gain a lead in this promising market that is estimated to be worth billions.”

About Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART)

Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) is MIT’s Research Enterprise in Singapore, established by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in partnership with the National Research Foundation of Singapore (NRF) since 2007. SMART is the first entity in the Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) developed by NRF. SMART serves as an intellectual and innovation hub for research interactions between MIT and Singapore. Cutting-edge research projects in areas of interest to both Singapore and MIT are undertaken at SMART. SMART currently comprises an Innovation Centre and six Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs): Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), BioSystems and Micromechanics (BioSyM), Critical Analytics for Manufacturing Personalized-Medicine (CAMP), Disruptive & Sustainable Technologies for Agricultural Precision (DiSTAP), Future Urban Mobility (FM) and Low Energy Electronic Systems (LEES). 

SMART research is funded by the National Research Foundation Singapore under the CREATE programme. For more information, please visit – http://smart.mit.edu

For media queries, please contact:
Andrew Wong 
SMART@bluetotem.co
+65 91993623