$2m for international health research partnerships

22 May 2009

$2M invested to help build international health research partnerships

More than $2M has been awarded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) into four international health research collaborations.

These projects bring together New Zealand health researchers and Australian partners to investigate important health issues through Trans-Tasman Clinical Trials research. These health issues include cardiovascular disease, tobacco control, oncology and rotavirus infection in children.

The collaborations are funded through the International Investment Opportunities Fund (IIOF), which focuses on developing international funding partnerships to facilitate research programmes of joint interest. The fund supports applicants to engage in research activities that will produce gains for New Zealand health research, provide significant leverage to build New Zealand’s health research capacity and will potentially attract international co-funding to support longer term health research projects.

Each of the research proposals selected has the potential to benefit the health challenges facing New Zealanders.

Details of funding approved by the HRC Board and offered to research teams in the 2009/2010 round of IIOF (Trans-Tasman Clinical Trials Collaboration) are as follows:

Sleep Apnea Treatment for the Modification of Cardiac and Vascular Risk
24 months, $656,000
Principal investigator: Associate Professor Brett Cowan, Centre for Advanced MRI, The University of Auckland
Lead international partner: The Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health, Repatriation General Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia.
Project Summary: Evidence is increasing that a common sleep-related disorder of breathing – obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) – increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. Uncertainty exists why such a link occurs and whether a common treatment, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), will prevent a heart attack or stroke. This proposal aims to contribute to a new, Trans-Tasman, academic-initiated and conducted, multi-site, randomised clinical trial to evaluate CPAP treatment of OSA in patients with coronary artery disease. The aims are to evaluate the effect of CPAP on (i) the heart and blood vessels using magnetic resonance imaging, and (ii) cholesterol, glucose, and hormone levels. The information gained will assist clinicians in treating patients with OSA. There is an excellent opportunity to combine recruitment networks, MRI scanning, clinical trial infrastructure and academic expertise between Australia and New Zealand to form a strong Trans-Tasman research network. OSA is of increasing importance to both countries.

A family tobacco control program to reduce respiratory illness in Māori infants
24 months, $926,847
Principal investigator: Dr Natalie Walker, Clinical Trials Research Unit, School of Population Health, The University of Auckland
Lead international partner: Menzies School of Health Research, Darwin
Project Summary: Over 60% of indigenous children in Australia and almost 20% of Māori children in New Zealand live in households with one or more regular smokers, where they are exposed to high levels of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), a significant and preventable cause of respiratory illness. An opportunity has arisen to join with an experienced Australian team of researchers who have received funding to explore whether a family-centred household ETS reduction intervention has any impact on the number of clinic presentations for respiratory illness among indigenous infants in the Northern Territory. New Zealand smoking cessation researchers plan to partner with this team to explore whether the intervention is transferable to other indigenous populations, specifically Māori resident within the Counties Manukau District Health Board region. If successful this research has the potential to improve the health of indigenous children in both countries.

Randomised phase II/ III study of preoperative chemoradiotherapy versus preoperative chemotherapy for resectable gastric cancer
24 months, $122, 000
Principal investigator: Professor Michael Findlay, Department of Oncology, The University of Auckland
Lead international partner: The University of Sydney
Project Summary: This new randomised clinical trial will investigate important questions regarding the use of preoperative chemoradiation and postoperative chemotherapy as an optimal strategy for patients with resectable gastric cancer. Worldwide, over half a million people are diagnosed with gastric cancer each year and it is the second most common cause of cancer death. Gastric cancer affects approximately 400 New Zealanders each year. We are proposing a large multi-centre clinical trial, the results of which will have the potential to change clinical practice worldwide.
Neither New Zealand nor Australia alone can complete this novel study in a timely manner and there is therefore a need for Trans-Tasman collaboration to achieve the necessary patient accrual. Financial support has been secured through Cancer Australia to be used within Australia and co-funding for use within NZ is now sought to allow significant NZ collaboration for the phase II component of this trial.

RV3 Rotavirus Vaccine: A Phase II clinical trial for a human neonatal rotavirus vaccine for the global community
24 months, $459,000
Principal investigator: Dr Pamela Jackson, Women’s and Children’s Department, University of Otago
Lead international partner: Murdoch Childrens Research Institute
Project Summary: Rotavirus infection is the leading cause of gastroenteritis responsible for over 600,000 deaths each year in children less than 5 years. Although two commercial vaccines are now available, the high cost and concerns about the safety are barriers to widespread vaccine introduction. The goal of this study is to develop an effective rotavirus vaccine, administered to newborns, affordable for the global community and able to be introduced cheaply into New Zealand as well as in developing countries where the burden of morbidity and mortality is greatest. This project is supported by WHO, PATH and NHMRC and provides a unique opportunity to build research capacity through a genuine collaborative partnership between the University of Otago and MCRI in Melbourne.

About the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC)
The HRC is the Crown agency responsible for the management of the Government’s investment in public good health research. Ownership of the HRC resides with the Minister of Health, with funding being primarily provided from Vote Research, Science and Technology. A Memorandum of Understanding between the two Ministers sets out this relationship.
Established under the Health Research Council Act 1990, the HRC's statutory functions include:

• advising the Minister and administering funds in relation to national health research policy
• fostering the recruitment, education, training and retention of those engaged in health research in New Zealand
• initiating and supporting health research
• undertaking consultation to establish priorities in health research
• promoting and disseminating the results of health research to encourage their contribution to health science, policy and delivery
• ensuring the development and application of appropriate assessment standards by committees or subcommittees that assess health research proposals.

ENDS

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