Partnership leads to creation of new regional clinical trial careers
Clinical trials pharmacist Michelle Kua has been able to grow her career at Latrobe Regional Health (LRH) from intern in 2017 thanks to a unique clinical trial pharmacy program developed at The Alfred.
Through LRH’s partnership with Australian-first pilot program, TrialHub, Michelle was able to access a specialised clinical trial pharmacy training program developed by Alfred Health’s clinical trial pharmacists.
The program provided support to set-up a specialised pharmacy area at LRH to store and dispense trial medications, and provided training to Michelle so she could learn to manage the intricacies of clinical trials.
The clinical trials pharmacy has since expanded to include three specialised pharmacists, with Rachel Adkins and Brianna Li joining the team.
The pharmacy will be taking on more staff as the trials and research unit at LRH grows.
Michelle said integrating a clinical trials pharmacy into the hospital greatly enhanced its ability to open new trials and provide care for people closer to home.
“It was a lot of work to establish a specialised pharmacy, it was so new for the hospital and pharmacy department. It was as challenging as it was unknown,” Michelle said.
“We needed to develop standard operating practices for things like storage or temperature monitoring. It was about learning a new way of operating.
“A lot of staff were excited, as we were all learning at the same time.”
Michelle said a clinical trials pharmacy differs because many medications have never been released for prescription. And some trial participants may either receive active medication or a placebo.
“This may mean a drug is often being tested for how effective it is, and sometimes these medications have not been used outside of a trial setting,” she said.
“My role is to make sure we maintain the quality of medications and that patients know how to use them, particularly as many of these are not widely available.
“But usually, the trial researchers and doctors have given the patients all the information and the patient has signed a consent form; they are usually prepared by the time they come to me.”
Michelle said, for her, one of the more impactful trials to be involved in was looking at medications for frail multiple myeloma patients.
“This trial is giving them a treatment option that could really help improve their quality of life. It feels really positive to be at the forefront in new developments in medicine,” she said.
“It could become a standard practice that I’ve been a part of.”
TrialHub, based at Alfred Health, is a pilot program that supports six outer metro, regional and rural hospitals with setting up their own independent clinical trial unit to improve local access closer to home.
Learn more about the clinical trial pharmacy program
