News & Events

News

Recent Trial Launches

April 2012 was a very exciting month for AKTN trials; IMPROVE-CKD (AKTN-coordinated trial led by A/Prof Nigel Toussaint and A/Prof Genie Pedagogos), AVATAR (AKTN-facilitated trial led by Dr Helen Pilmore) and SOLID (AKTN-endorsed trial led by Dr Mark Marshall) all kicked off their recruitment in April 2012.

Congratulations to the Principal Investigators, the Clinical Research Associates, and of course the recruiting sites on their efforts to get these trials off and running!

New Scientific Committee Chair and Deputy Chair Appointments

In April 2012, Alan Cass stepped down as Scientific Committee Chair, after filling the position since the Committee's inception. We thank Alan for his hard work over the years, and look forward to continued strong links between the AKTN and The George Institute as Alan retains his permanent position on the Executive Operations Secretariat. Vlado Perkovic will now rotate into the Scientific Committee Chair position, and we keenly anticipate the Committee's continued success under his leadership.

Neil Boudville has been unanimously supported as the next Deputy Chair, and we congratulate and welcome him to the position.

Congratulations to Professor Perkovic

The AKTN staff would like to extend our congratulations to Vlado Perkovic for his recent appointment to Professor of Sydney Medical School (Uni of Syd) and Executive Director of The George Institute Australia. Principal directors of the George Institute for Global Health, Professors Stephen McMahan and Robyn Norton, made the announcement on the 7th February 2012. Well done Vlado on this recognition of your tireless work in progressing clinical research. http://ahha.asn.au/news/vlado-perkovic-appointed-executive-directorthe-george-institute-global-health-australia

NHMRC 10 of the best

Congratulations to Henry Krum, BLOCADE Trial Management Committee member, for his recognition by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). His team at Monash University’s work on novel therapeutic strategies to reduce the burden of chronic heart failure was awarded a 5 year Program grant in 2005, and has this year been chosen as one of 2011’s NHMRC 10 of the best research projects. Congratulations to Henry and team for this commendation. http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/_files_nhmrc/publications/attachments/r50_ten_of_the_best_2011_121206_2.pdf

New Trials Submissions

New Trials for submission to the Scientific Committee must be submitted by the following due dates so the appropriate review processes can occur:

Scientific Committee Meeting Date
Trial Submission Due
9 March 2012
13 June 2012
August 2012 (TBC)
23 November 2012 (TBC)
13 February 2012
2 May 2012
(six weeks before)
12 October 2012 (TBC)

 

Successful funding applications

The AKTN would like to offer our congratulations to A/Prof Neil Boudville for his success in the recent round of NHRMC Project Grant funding. A/Prof Boudville, AKTN Scientific Committee Deputy Chairman and member of 2 AKTN Trial Management Committees, received funding for his application entitled LONG-TERM IMPLICATIONS OF BECOMING A LIVING KIDNEY DONOR: AN INTERNATIONAL PROSPECTIVE STUDY, through the University of Western Australia.

We would also like to add our congratulations to AKTN Operations Secretariat Chair, Prof David Johnson, and AKTN TMC member, Dr Magid Fahim, for their NHRMC Project Grant success for their trial entitled SERIAL NT-PROBNP MONITORING FOR PREDICTING MAJOR CARDIOVASCULAR EVENTS IN THE DIALYSIS POPULATION, through the University of Queensland.

Further congratulations to AKTN Scientific Committee Member, Prof Alan Cass, for his success in obtaining NHMRC Project funds to extend the follow-up of the successful SHARP trial; THE SHARP-ER STUDY: EXTENDED FOLLOW-UP OF THE SHARP STUDY COHORT, administered through the University of Sydney.

Well done Drs Boudville, Johnson, Fahim, Cass and colleagues for obtaining funding success in such a competitive field!

ANZSN annual conference

The Network would like to thank all AKTN members and other members of the nephrological community for stopping at the AKTN booth during the ANZSN conference in Adelaide in September. We enjoyed speaking to you all about our current and upcoming trials, and as always, it was nice to put faces to the names. See you at ANZSN 2012 in New Zealand!

Scholarships

PhD Opportunities

Currently, the AKTN is contributing to a PhD scholarship stipend for Min Jun, a Doctoral Fellow within the Renal and Metabolic Division of The George Institute for Global Health. Min's PhD research aims to systematically summarise key interventions in the area of kidney disease to identify critical gaps in knowledge and to analyse the effects of these interventions to assess their potential for improving long term clinical outcomes in patients with kidney disease. Min's PhD project is supervised by Professor Alan Cass and Professor Vlado Perkovic.

The AKTN is committed to providing support for PhD candidates. There are opportunities to conduct research in the various aspects of clinical trials:

Interested candidates are advised to contact Associate Professor Carmel Hawley or any member of the Operations Secretariat or Scientific Committee.

Successful Funding Applications

2005
  • NHMRC enabling grant for AKTN operations
  • KHA grant for AKTN operations
  • ANZSN grant for AKTN operations
2007:
  • NHMRC grant for the FAVOURED Trial
  • RoFar grant for the HERO trial
  • Janssen-Cilag untied grant for the HERO trial
2008:
  • Amgen untied grant for the HERO trial
  • Jacquot fellowship (Matthew Roberts) for the BLOCADE trial
2009:
  • Pfizer CVL grant for the BLOCADE trial
2010:
  • NHMRC enabling grant for AKTN operations
  • NHMRC Project Grant for the PEXIVAS trial
  • Shire untied grant for the IMPROVE Trial
2011:
  • NHMRC Project Grant for the BLOCADE trial
  • NHMRC Project Grant for the HERO trial
2012:
  • Abbott Products unrestricted bridging grant for the FAVOURED trial

AKTN Newsletters

Trial Newsletters

FAVOURED Trial Newsletters

HONEYPOT Trial Newsletters

HERO Trial Newsletters

BLOCADE Trial Newsletters

PEXIVAS Trial Newsletters

AVATAR Trial Newsletters

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