Patients in regional, rural, and remote (RRR) Australia face significant barriers to accessing advanced healthcare due to vast geographical distances and cultural differences. The Australian Teletrial Program (ATP) has been working to bridge this gap by facilitating access to clinical trials under the supervision of experienced primary trial sites located in larger, well-established centers. This discussion explores the experiences, triumphs, and challenges over the past two years. Our Regional Clinical Trial Coordinating Centres have been established across all six jurisdictional partners, deploying mobile clinical trial staff to support the workforce at RRR sites, ensuring seamless operation and integration of clinical trials in these areas.
One notable triumph was our invitation to speak at the "Equitable Access to Diagnose and Treat Individuals with Rare and Less Common Cancers, Including Neuroendocrine Cancer" Senate Committee Enquiry. The Senators said ATP is the "solution to a problem we have been looking for." To date, ATP has conducted 44 teletrials, trained over 4,000 individuals in clinical trial methodology, and enrolled 581 RRR participants.
Despite challenges related to regulatory and governance issues, the ATP has made substantial progress. The program has demonstrated that with the right support and infrastructure, it is possible to bring cutting-edge clinical trials to patients in RRR areas, significantly improving health equity and access to advanced healthcare.