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New life-saving and pain medications could reach the market up to four years faster thanks to an Australian initiative to fast-track the clinical trial approval process.

Currently, clinical trials can be delayed up to eight years because drug companies do not have easy access to suitable patients. To help resolve this dilemma, Australian company Neoclinical has created Australia鈥檚 largest voluntary 鈥榤atching database鈥� between patients and the 40,000 clinical trials that occur worldwide at any one time.

The registration service allows patients who want to be part of a clinical trial to find one that might be suitable for them.

鈥淓very great medical advance in modern history has involved a clinical trial to prove a drug鈥檚 benefits before regulators allow patients access to it,鈥� Neoclinical Managing Director and Oncology Specialist Registered Nurse Megan Guy said.

鈥淗owever, patients are largely unaware these trials exist, and pharmaceutical companies don鈥檛 know how to access willing participants. Keeping these two groups apart can delay the approval of life-saving drugs by years.

鈥淣eoclinical鈥檚 matching database allows patients to voluntarily register for clinical studies in areas that may be suitable for them.

鈥淭his has the potential to fast-track breakthrough drugs that could treat anything from cancer, heart disease, diabetes and asthma to non-life-threatening chronic pain conditions.鈥�

More than 60 clinical trials are currently underway in Australia for all kinds of pain from back and joint pain to cancer-related pain, but they need more than 56,000 patients worldwide before they can be completed.

After laboratory research and development, followed by clinical trials in mice, new drugs typically follow three phases in human clinical trials before regulatory approval.

Accelerating the approval process for human clinical trials provides an incentive for medical companies to invest in research and development.

It is estimated that pharmaceutical companies spend $1 billion to bring a new drug to market. Once a drug is patented, that company only has seven years鈥� rights over it, before other companies can copy it.

As a result, many new life-saving or pain-relieving drugs do not proceed past the development stage because clinical trials take too long.

Axsome Therapeutics is currently conducting a Phase 3 clinical trial that focuses on finding relief for pain for a condition known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome or CRPS.

鈥淭here are so many people in Australia in constant pain and clinical trials are an essential part of the process to develop better ways to find relief,鈥� Axsome Therapeutics Country Clinical Manager George Zafaris said. 鈥淲e estimate it can take up to eight years to conduct clinical trials on humans.鈥�

Patients can discover if they might be suitable for clinical trials at .

Image credit: 漏stock.adobe.com/au/suthisak