Human Research and Ethics Projects

St Andrew’s is a recognised leader in medical research and innovation.

All research is administered by the St Andrew’s Human Research and Ethics Committee. We adhere to National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Guidelines in the conduct of all research and projects. The HREC’s role is to review research proposals that involve human participants to ensure they meet approved ethical standards and guidelines. It is also the committee’s role to ensure the safety of individuals involved in clinical trials run at St Andrew’s.

We work closely with our growing network of clinicians and research partners, such as the University of Adelaide, Cancer Research SA (CRSA) and GenesisCare to turn scientific discovery into the best possible treatments, care, and outcomes for our patients and their families.

This year has seen a collaboration between St Andrew’s and CRSA undertaking clinical trials at St Andrew’s. CRSA is a thriving, fully operational cancer clinical trial unit at St Andrew’s, and while CRSA is only a fledging unit just over 12 months old, it has already seen more than 40 cancer patients receive access to novel therapies on trial. St Andrew’s is committed to providing excellence in cancer care and enabling state-of-the-art gold standard therapies. There are currently 14 open clinical trials at CRSA with a view to 30 open trials by the end of 2022. CRSA Director A/Prof Rohit Joshi is particularly excited about the phase 1 Suplexa trial, and states:

‘This represents a new technology of removing a patient’s immune cells with a simple blood draw, re-engineering them, and then transfusing them back into the patient with a hope to kill the cancer.

We are offering this to patients with any metastatic solid tumour who have limited treatment options left, and whilst we have a lot to learn, it is just so fulfilling and wonderful to be involved with these new innovative cancer therapies at the outset of their development.’