This Fall, members of the Accelerating Clinical Trials (ACT) Consortium convened in Quebec City for the third annual meeting to collaborate on advancing clinical trial excellence both nationally and globally.
Over two days more than 350 researchers, representatives of Canadian hospitals and bio-tech companies, along with patients and indigenous partners, explored strategies to strengthen the Canadian biotechnology ecosystem, shared updates on new ACT funded clinical trial networks, and discussed regulatory processes in Canada.
The meeting kicked off with a keynote speech from Vasee Moorthy, Senior Advisor, Research for Health Department, World Health Organization (WHO) on the Guidance for best practices for clinical trials published recently by WHO. Moorthy emphasized that this guidance applies to all clinical trials and addresses any health intervention for commercial or non-commercial purposes, across any role and health system setting.
PJ Devereaux
“ACT was established three years ago to improve the ecosystem for conducting clinical trials in Canada,” stated PJ Devereaux, ACT Co-Chair, PHRI Deputy Director and Senior Scientist.
“ACT has implemented a Data and Samples Sharing Agreement in over 45 Canadian centres, it has funded 20 Canadian community hospitals embedding study personnel in these hospitals to facilitate bring trials to these communities, held 5 research competitions to fund randomized clinical trials, initiated a competition to select a group to run a single national Research Ethics Board review and approval process with strict timelines, and many other initiatives. ACT has also invested in trails evaluating Canadian biotechnologies. Our goal is to advance healthcare in Canada and beyond, through funding high-impact clinical trials and supporting biotech solutions.”
Since its launch in 2023, PHRI has been an integral part of this consortium as the coordinating center and one of the clinical trial units.
Hertzel Gerstein
“PHRI is proud to be the parent organization of this nationwide CIHR-funded initiative. ACT epitomizes the principles and values that have sustained PHRI for the past 25 years” said PHRI Interim Executive Director and Senior Scientist Hertzel Gerstein.
“Co-led by PHRI Senior Scientist PJ Devereaux, the ACT consortium enables large-scale trials that have a meaningful impact on health outcomes in Canada and internationally. This aligns with PHRI’s mission to conduct research that addresses both common and neglected conditions, ultimately improving health for people worldwide.”
Over the past three years, ACT has provided funding for the development of new or existing trial networks, supported the completion of high impact randomized controlled trials, and funded partnerships with Canadian-controlled biotechnology companies and ACT/AEC Network clinical trialists. Multiple PHRI trials have benefited from ACT funding, including ARTESiA, B-FREE and TheRAPy.
The meeting featured presentations from winners of the third ACT RFA, which fund partnerships with Canadian-controlled biotechnology companies and ACT/AEC Network clinical trialists. Almost $2,000,000 CAD was awarded to support Canadian biotechnology clinical trials.
Among the winners were PHRI Investigator Sandra Ofori and Scientist Michael McGillion, co-principal investigators of the PVC-RAM-2 trial. This trial aims to determine the effect of virtual care with remote automated monitoring on the 45-day risk of acute-hospital care among patients who have undergone non-elective surgery.
PHRI Investigator Sandra Ofori (@docSandraO) is presenting on the #PHRI PVC-RAM-2 trial.
Sandra, alongside #PHRI Scientist Michael McGillion, co-PIs of the study, are among the winners of the third @ACTAEC RFA.#researchexcellence #PHRIresearch pic.twitter.com/mAuybjnNYI
— PHRI.ca Population Health Research Institute 🇨🇦 (@PHRIresearch) October 9, 2024
PHRI Senior Scientist Michael Walsh, also among the ACT RFA-3 winners, provided an update on EQUAL Dialysis, a study he’s leading with PHRI Investigator Pavel Roshanov.
#PHRI Senior Scientist Michael Walsh (@lastwalsh), who leads renal research at PHRI, presented an update on the EQUAL-Dialysis study. He is also among the winners of the #ACT_AEC RFA-3. #clinicaltrials pic.twitter.com/tZ92K4FuU5
— PHRI.ca Population Health Research Institute 🇨🇦 (@PHRIresearch) October 9, 2024
The meeting also featured presentations from 17 Canadian biotech companies showcasing their technologies and applications/programs including JN Nova Pharma, Bio Twin, Feldan Technologies, Ostia Sciences.
Excited to see some of the medtech and biotech companies exhibiting at the #ACT_AEC third meeting, including @withcanurta, @BioTwinAI, CURA Therapeutics, Aufero Medical, @loonbio, and many more!
@ACTAEC #clinicaltrials #Biotechnology #Canada #HealthcareInnovation pic.twitter.com/pGFRFPunS6
— PHRI.ca Population Health Research Institute 🇨🇦 (@PHRIresearch) October 9, 2024
ACT/AEC Canada Consortium was established in 2023 with CIHR funding and pan-Canadian participants to facilitate, optimize, and accelerate the conduct, implementation, and result translation from high quality, high-impact randomized controlled trials to improve health in Canada and globally. Since then, ACT has established a network of 34 research networks, 11 clinical trial units, and 20 community hospitals, facilitating collaboration across Canada.
“Today, more than ever, we emphasize the importance of this initiative. We need to build on what we have already achieved and continue to implement the system changes needed within the Canadian clinical trials ecosystem” stated Devereaux.
