For industry and sponsors - clinical trials
The Child and Adolescent Health Service (CAHS) welcomes contact from industry and sponsors who are interested in working with us to improve health outcomes for children and young people.
CAHS is Western Australia’s leading site for paediatric clinical trials.
We conduct clinical trials across all paediatric disciplines, have world-class facilities and equipment, and a high-performing clinical workforce that is active in research.
Clinical Trials Liaison officer
CAHS has a Clinical Trials Liaison (CTLO) officer, who serves as the primary contact for sponsors seeking to conduct clinical trials at CAHS. The CTLO will assess the feasibility of running a trial at CAHS and can work with both sponsors and researchers to smooth the startup process. Sponsors should email the Clinical Trials team to speak to the CTLO.
Research suites at Perth Children's Hospital – Clinic D
CAHS has a dedicated clinical research facility located in Perth Children’s Hospital.
Commonly known as ‘Clinic D’, the centre is a modern, well-equipped area that enables researchers from CAHS, The Kids Research Institute Australia and universities to work together.
Clinic D provides the following facilities:
- 15 standard consultation rooms
- 2 purpose-built rooms – for respiratory and stress electrocardiograms (ECGs)
- 1 treatment room, adjoining a centrifuge and fridge freezer.
Clinic D also houses a laboratory and clinical trials pharmacy.
Suites are available from 8am until 5pm Monday to Friday. Bookings are essential.
Projects must have CAHS governance site approval to access the suites.
Researchers are given specific information about the booking process and requirements for managing research clinic appointments during their local area orientation.
For further information contact the Clinical Nurse Manager Research.
Guide to costs for industry and sponsors.
This document provides a guide to costs for commercial organisations and sponsors looking to partner with CAHS in conducting clinical trials. It is designed assist with developing and negotiating clinical trial budgets and is divided into 3 sections:
• overview
• site facilities and support
• standard charges from the CAHS research departments and external vendors
The list of potential fees is not exhaustive and should serve as a guide only. Each activity represents a service that may incur a cost. In developing final fees and budgets for clinical trials, sponsors should consider the actual costs of these services and how these costs will be reimbursed. Some activities may be regarded as standard care and should be identified separately. Not all activities listed are necessarily relevant to a specific clinical trial or circumstance.
For more information contact the Clinical Trials team.
Frequently asked questions about conducting Clinical Trials at CAHS
Australia is home to some of the world’s best researchers and health professionals.
There is a world-class research infrastructure and a stable socio-political environment.
There is a simple and efficient regulatory system.
Australia has one of the most diverse multicultural populations in the world, making the results of your study applicable worldwide.
CAHS has performed groundbreaking patient-orientated clinical research across all paediatric disciplines.
CAHS has high quality clinical research facilities with state-of-the-art equipment.
Our processes ensure the studies we conduct are done in a timely manner, without compromising the quality of a study.
Depending on the sample size and the inclusion/exclusion criteria, most studies are completed within a year after receiving HREC and site approval.
Research projects that happen at a CAHS site, which includes Perth Children’s Hospital, Community Health, Mental Health and Neonatology, must be submitted, reviewed, and approved by a WA Health or NHMRC certified Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) and the CAHS Research Governance Office (RGO).
CAHS HREC is certified as Lead HREC under NMA and can review and approve projects across public health organisations across multiple Australian jurisdictions.
The centralised office for the CAHS HREC and RGO is at Perth Children’s Hospital. The team in this office facilitate the ethical and governance review of proposed projects and monitoring of approved research across CAHS sites.
Research projects at a CAHS site require both HREC and RGO review and approval, and applications can be submitted to both review streams simultaneously.
Yes, CAHS supports commercially sponsored clinical trials.
In the research year 2023-24, CAHS had 169 approved clinical trial studies, which includes 20% of commercially sponsored studies.
Most of the specimen collections are completed at the clinic during your study visits.
The samples are sent to the central laboratory facility contracted by the sponsor for further analysis.
Unscheduled visit samples during the study can be collected at large commercial pathology centres, with whom we have established a relationship.
They are (NATA)-accredited laboratories with collection centres throughout Australia.
Typically, registered phlebotomists collect blood samples for us. Where possible, we prefer to use the services of this organisation as it allows study volunteers to visit their nearest collection centre rather than travel to a specific location.
The primary source will be the referral doctor or the specialist who will inform their patient pool about a potential study.
If required, the PI will circulate the study information to the doctors working in the same department across other WA hospitals.
There is no fixed cost for running a clinical trial study. It depends on several factors like study design, phase of the study, timeline, sample size, and outcome measures that will be used. Specialised testing and analysis will add to the costs.
Please refer to our brochure for an estimate of the cost involved in running a commercial study.
Trial registration is important for participant recruitment because it allows people interested in participating in a clinical trial to search for relevant clinical trials on a single website. Registration also assists health professionals to identify relevant trials for their patients.
Researchers should register trials as early as possible and ensure information such as contact details and trial status is kept up to date. The details of trial registration are required in RGS.
All our trials are prospectively listed on the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Register (ANZCTR) and Australian Clinical Trials.
Please contact CAHS.Clinicaltrials@health.wa.gov.au and the team will be in touch to assist you further.
To learn more about the clinical trial departments and facilities at CAHS, refer to our clinical research webpage.