COVID-19: MACH Response

Our partners and especially our health services face unprecedented challenges over the next few months. The research response to COVID-19 is second only in importance to the clinical care challenges posed by the epidemic. The MACH has responded by helping our health services and research institutes lead the fight-back by supporting highest priority COVID-19 research.

Please contact us with any COVID-19 queries at MACH-COVIDtrials@unimelb.edu.au

MACH COVID-19 Activities

MACH Infection Committee

The Committee will meet regularly (currently fortnightly) to deploy its wide-ranging expertise to make a consensus recommendation as to which interventional clinical trials are of the highest priority to support MACH-affiliated health services.

Current recommendations are found below with information updated after each Committee meeting:

Highest Priority Trials

In Developmental Stage

Non-Trial Research

Factors favouring an assessment as a highest priority trial may include:

Funding from the NHMRC/MRFF
An adaptive design
An opportunity to join an outstanding quality international study
Studies that nest in biobankable or diagnostic material
Studies addressing a particular local need

MACH invites partner Research Offices to alert us to studies that are sufficiently advanced to be seeking ethics and governance approval and other queries related to COVID-19 research and trials (including non-clinical trials).

COVID-19 Research Troubleshooter

Sofia Sidiropoulos has joined MACH as a COVID Research Manager to coordinate and support the conduct of COVID interventional clinical trials across our partners.

Sofia will focus on streamlining Research Governance approval across our partner hospitals and coordinating collaborations and questions regarding ethics and governance as needed for MACH priority clinical trials.

Streamlining ethical approval across MACH

Research Managers (through the statewide Hospital Research Managers Committee) have agreed to fast-track COVID-19 trials through Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) approval and are reviewing the use of the framework of National Mutual Acceptance (NMA).