St Vincent's Hospital

The ‘Applied Medical Research – Clinical Research Program’ (AMR-CRP) is the result of a merger in late 2008 of three clinical research groups on the St Vincent’s campus. The primary focus of the research is on safety and efficacy of new and existing treatments. AMR-CRP conducts clinical trials in (alphabetical order) auto-immune disease (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis), clinical pharmacology, HIV disease, ischaemic and valvular heart disease (both new drugs and new devices that can replace surgery), neurological diseases (e.g. stroke and Alzheimer’s disease), palliative care, and rehabilitation medicine, and viral hepatitis (particularly hepatitis C). The group is overseeing approximately 75 clinical trials involving over 1000 patients.

 
In general, drugs are licensed when their effectiveness is confirmed, but often when their safety is unclear, particularly over the longer-term. Many diseases, such as ischaemic heart disease and HIV infection, require life-long therapy, but the safety of the treatments used for these diseases is often only known for a few years. AMR-CRP, therefore, has a particular focus on determining long-term safety of treatments. For example, in the area of HIV infection, AMR-CRP has been a world leader at identifying many of the complications of HIV treatment, including premature heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and kidney disease.

The establishment of research in palliative care is an Australian first; care of patients at the end of life has largely been empirical. By participating in five multi-centre, placebo-controlled trials, AMR-CRP will help generate data that will provide evidence for how symptoms can be best controlled in terminally ill patients.

The group was also established to:
• provide critical mass to the substantial, but somewhat fragmented, clinical research on the campus, which is leading to more rapid study commencement and completion, and fewer regulatory issues;
• to promote translational research with colleagues on the campus conducting basic science; and
• to increase opportunities for conducting early-phase research, which in turn provides more access to patients at the hospital to new treatments.

AMR-CRP is headed by Professor Andrew Carr, a clinical immunologist with 17 years experience in clinical research. The group includes 11 study co-ordinators, two Research Fellows, a Research Manager, a data manager, administrative staff, and a statistician.

Professor Andrew Carr MBBS MD FRACP FRCPA

St Vincent's Hospital

Employee at St Vincent's Hospital

For furthur information please visit the St Vincent's Hospital website