International Clinical Trials Centre

Capabilities

The Institute for Eye Research International Clinical Trials Centre (ICTC) is a world-class facility that was established to meet the specific needs of the eye care industry in clinical trials.  The ICTC offers flexibility of service, rapid turn-around, a range of patients, and a wide range of clinical trial styles and services. 

• Wide range of clinical trials: including testing for:
• Investigational products: testing of novel products including initial evaluation of performance of new prototypes, testing of product iterations to find the optimum performance level, evaluating products to establish overall performance, compatibility testing of combinations eye care products pre-market launch
• Marketed products: post-marketing evaluations and comparisons of currently marketed products, marketing support
• Examples of clinical trials include testing of contact lenses, solutions, eye drops, spectacles, and post surgical monitoring.
• Comprehensive patient pool: comprising people from a range of ages and backgrounds.  It includes both current contact lens wearers and spectacle wearers of a varied script range.  Patient eye health is a priority - in addition to regular eye checks at study visits all patients undergo regular screening checks to monitor overall eye health.
• Highly skilled clinical staff: are all trained in Good Clinical Practice procedures to meet the standards of the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration and the American Food and Drug Administration.  The Institute’s personnel have experience of the contact lens and related technology fields collectively totaling several hundred years, and provide a high level review of the information generated from research activities. Ongoing staff training is conducted to ensure appropriate expertise in international clinical trial requirements, and new hires are being implemented to complement and expand the current skill set.
• Dedicated teams: are established for each trial.  Principal Investigators and Clinical Research Associates oversee the daily running of projects and ensure study milestones are met, and liaise with sponsors to provide regular feedback on study progression and study results.  Support staff include clinical optometrists, clinical monitors, clinical assistants, lens metrologists, ethics coordinators and biostatisticians. 
• Complementary scientific disciplines: are available in addition to the strong clinical team. The Institute has access to a wide range of expertise on site including microbiology, biochemistry, immunology, polymer and surface chemistry, surface and materials science, biomechanical and biomolecular engineering, and fluid dynamics. 
• Wide range of high-quality state-of-the-art equipment: including equipment designed in-house to meet specific research requirements. 
• Clinical databases: have been developed and optimised in-house to provide flexible and efficient collection of data via direct data entry. 
• Education: ICTC short courses are available to train professionals, including sales teams and clinical staff in the basics of eye care and eye health. 

Activities

The ICTC conducts the majority of its research and clinical trails in partnership with eye wear manufacturers.

Trials
We are able to provide a range of clinical trials to suit each company’s needs.  Products tested included new contact lens designs, new solution formulations, and new-to-market products in addition to well-established marketed products.

In 2006-2007, the clinic conducted trials involving 1 149 patients, including 1 041 dispensing study participants and 108 in-house study participants. In total, 6 079 study visits were conducted during this period.

As part of our patient services, patients are provided with complimentary follow-ups to studies and full eye exams at 18 months.