Publish Date: 
Friday, October 11, 2019 - 11:45

The Dilemmas of Governance and Translational Trials: Summary 

The topic, “Dilemmas of Governance and Translational Trials”, came from questions during the second forum entitled, “To patent or not to patent” during discussions with Dr Mark Ashton from UQ Uniquest and Dr Andrew Leech from QUT bluebox when questions ranged from how and when to develop a commercialisation strategy, including when to patent, to dealing with IP in a student’s thesis and challenges in governance.

The forum was chaired by world-leading Harvard clinical trials’ expert Professor Barbara Bierer who invited representatives from TRI, QIMR Berghofer, UQ and the PA Hospital to share their experiences and perspectives. TRI CEO and Director of Research, Professor Carolyn Mountford presented first from the view of an Academic Researcher Investigator followed by Professor Scott Bell from a Director of Research perspective along with Professor Sandro Porceddu and Sabine Sand from a Clinician Researcher Investigator and University Research Partnerships Manager viewpoint.

Following the presentations, Professor Bierer invited the speakers to begin the panel discussion with many audience members eager to get their questions answered and to voice their matters.

The forum was aimed at researchers or clinicians who are running, or are interested in running, clinical trials in Queensland; clinical trials’ facilities staff, investigators, sponsors and clinical trials’ advocates from government or industry. The Dilemmas of Governance and Translational Trials was an excellent opportunity to hear the issues and challenges including: governance, risk assessment, sponsorship, resources and the delays and frustrations in getting approvals. The video to the full forum is available below for those unable to attend on Wednesday. 

Along with the Forum on Wednesday, TRI was honoured to host Professor Bierer on Tuesday evening for a seminar presented by the world-renowned clinical trials' expert who took an in-depth look into the dilemmas faced internationally and the solutions found to aid the running of multi-institutional and multi-site, clinical trials led by clinicians and researchers.