Clinical Trials Pharmacy
The Alfred Health Clinical Trials Pharmacy provides quality, efficient, and cost-effective investigational drug services.
About us
Clinical Trials Pharmacy provides services to The Alfred, Caulfield Hospital, Sandringham Hospital and Melbourne Sexual Health Centre.
The service is managed by Good Clinical Practice (GCP) trained, experienced pharmacists and technicians at The Alfred. This practice ensures studies are conducted according to international and local standards of good clinical research practice.
Our facilities include:
- Restricted access temperature-monitored storage
- Computerised dispensing
- Sterile preparation suite
We currently support over 300 drug trials from first-in-human Phase I to Phase IV studies.
Our team has a unique combination of clinical trial expertise coupled with strong education and research skills. This combination means we’ve been able to develop a pharmacy clinical trial credentialing program that brings together evidenced-based adult learning principles with contemporary service delivery that doesn’t exist anywhere else within pharmacy in Australia.
Find out more about Alfred Health Pharmacy.
What are Phase I, II, III or IV clinical trials?
There are four different phases of a clinical trial. Each phase is represented by a roman numeral.
Find out more about what happens in each phaseOur services
Our major clinical trial services include:
- Drug accountability
- Dispensing
- Aseptic preparation
- Storage of investigational medications
- Design and manufacturing of blinded medications
- Generation of randomisation codes and drug treatment unblinding for medical emergency
- Drug distribution to multi-sites
- Sourcing investigational medications
- Pharmacist education and training
Fees are charged for services to provide pharmacy support for clinical trials without incurring extra cost to the hospital. Clinical Trials Pharmacy supports Alfred Health investigator-initiated studies at reduced charges.
Our achievements
- Developed a new, specialised training program for TrialHub including interactive online practical learning, structured onsite observations, pharmacist coaching, formal credentialing and access to on-going support
Our team
The Clinical Trials Pharmacy team are leaders in their fields, with decades of Australian and international experience:
- Adam Cunningham, Manager
- Peta Bretag, Senior Pharmacist
- Ramez Hanna, Senior Pharmacist
Clinical Trials Pharmacy Service Foundation Program
Our Clinical Trials Pharmacy Service Foundation Program assists hospital pharmacy departments in developing or refining their clinical trials service. The program integrates evidence-based key learning principles to ensure a valuable and impactful educational experience for participants.
Read more and registerPublications
Coutsouvelis, Ioannis; Kirkpatrick, Carl Michael James; Dooley, Michael; Spencer, Andrew; Kennedy, Glen A.; Chau, Maggie M; Huang, Gillian; Doocey, Richard T.; Copeland, Tandy Sue; Do, Louis; Bardy, Peter G.; Kerridge, Ian Harold; Cole, Theresa; Fraser, C
(2023), Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, 29, 383.e1-383.e10
Samra, R. S., Plummer, E. L., Vodstrcil, L. A., Aguirre, I., Clarke, E. J., Fairley, C. K., Chow, E. P. F., & Bradshaw, C. S
(2023), Open forum infectious diseases, 10(12), ofad590
DOI: 10.1093/ofid/ofad590
Graudins L
(2023), Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia,
