University of Sydney receives $7.5 million grant for clinical trails

The University of Sydney has been successful in securing over $55 million in the latest round of National Health and Medical Research Council funding, including a $7.5 million grant for clinical trails, it was announced today.

The announcement was made by the Prime Minister at the University's Heart Research Institute. Also included in the funding announcement were six new Fellowships and 90 Project Grants which are worth $43.2 million in total.

A snapshot of some of the successful grants follows:

NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre: Professor John Simes and his team at the University of Sydney's NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre (CTC), has received a $7.5 million 'Clinical trials advances for better health outcomes' - Program Grant.

This major grant will allow the CTC to initiate major new clinical trails and a comprehensive program of research into trail methods, biostatistician analysis, health outcome analysis and decision analysis. Patient preferences and decision making, particularly in cancer, will be a major focus.

INTERACT: a randomised trial of intensive blood pressure lowering in acute intercerebral haemorrhage (ICH), led by Professor Craig Anderson from the University's George Institute for International Health, has received a $2.5 million project grant.

This international, multi-centre, randomised controlled trial, looking at the effectiveness of early, intensive blood pressure lowering in 2,000 patients with ICH. ICH is the most serious form of stroke affecting several thousand Australians and 2-3 million people throughout the world each year.

At present over 30 per cent of patients die early after onset ICH and at least half of the survivors are left permanently disabled. Evidence suggests that even modest elevations in blood pressure are associated with poor outcomes in ICH; therefore early BP lowering using routinely available agents, if shown to be effective, would provide a simple and widely applicable therapy.

Professor Anderson has also secured an NHMRC Research Fellowship in this round of funding.

Sydney Adolescent Vascular and Eye Study - SAVES: Professor Paul Mitchell from the Sydney Adolescent Vascular and Eye Study has received a Project Grant of over $1.2 million to look at retinal arteriolar narrowing, which is a strong predictor of hypertension and cardiovascular disease among adults.

The study will include a longitudinal vascular study examining the genesis of cardiovascular risk in childhood, and a longitudinal eye study that will examine the emergence of early myopic retinal changes and visual impairment.