Clinical studies in New Zealand & Australia

New Zealand and Australia have a combined population of 25 million, predominantly of European descent with a sizeable number of Asians in both countries, and Polynesians, particularly in New Zealand.

The advantages of setting up clinical research sites in NZ & Australia include:

• Excellent clinical recruitment and retention rates
• Less bureaucracy and a practical regulatory environment
• Responsive to changes in requirements as projects develop
• English language environment
• Reverse seasonality and no holiday season in July /August
• Good infrastructure for clinical trial processes & technology
• Standard of medical practice similar to Western Europe / North America
• Lower costs and lower overheads
• Quality data to ICH-GCP and FDA standards

Clinical trial sites are well organised, with motivated staff. The regulatory regime is pragmatic with notifications and approvals normally dealt with quickly. Investigators tend to be hands-on involved in clinical trials, meaning a more personal service for patients, better recruitment and retention, and high quality data. New Zealand has the advantage for clinical studies of treatment-naïve populations in some therapeutic areas.

New Zealand and Australia's medical trial training encourages doctors to spend time overseas; so many investigators have international experience and are familiar with ICH-GCP, FDA and related guidelines.

Australia: The Number One Place for Clinical Trials?
Applied Clinical Trials, Sep 2006

"Australia has been ranked the number one location to conduct pharmaceutical clinical trials"

- Economist Intelligence Unit