MRINZ trials win five of the seven Australian Clinical Trials Alliance (ACTA) 2021 Awards

Professor Paul Young, MRINZ deputy director and PEPTIC Study lead . Photo Credit: Rebecca McMillan Photography

The MRINZ received extraordinary recognition at the Australian Clinical Trials Alliance (ACTA) 2021 Trial of the Year Awards, announced in Melbourne on Thursday 20 May, which is International Clinical Trials Day. The MRINZ played a senior role in three clinical trials: PEPTIC Study, REMAP-CAP Study and PNEUMOTHORAX Study, which won five of the seven 2021 ACTA Awards.

The ACTA Awards honour the remarkable professionals who advance our health system by designing, conducting, or participating in ground-breaking clinical trials. They promote the importance of clinical trials and the expertise and complexity of the work involved.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to contribute in a meaningful way to improve the healthcare systems both here in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally, collaboratively creating tangible change to patient care worldwide. We’re enormously grateful for the continued support of the Health Research Council of New Zealand.
Their commitment to our mission-led research has underpinned all of the trials celebrated with these awards. Much of our success can be attributed to strong long-lasting partnerships with our clinical colleagues, both across the country and around the world; the dedication of frontline medical and nursing staff; and our remarkable volunteers, without whom, none of these research findings could be possible.”
—Professor Richard Beasley, director of the MRINZ

“The HRC is proud to support these high-impact, high-calibre trials run by the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand. These trials have led to significant improvements in clinical practice and made a difference at the frontline of healthcare.”
—Professor Sunny Collings, chief executive of the Health Research Council of New Zealand.

The PEPTIC study, an MRINZ-led landmark three-year trial, won the prestigious Australian Clinical Trials (ACTA) STInG Excellence in Trial Statistics Award. The study also received the runner-up ACTA Trial of the Year Award.

"This large study of a common intensive care unit treatment has changed international clinical approach to critically ill patients at risk of bleeding from ulcers in ICUs around the world. As such we deemed this an outstanding choice for this year’s awards and congratulate the trial group on this impressive effort. Not only does this trial benefit many thousands of patients in the future but it illustrates the power of networks to address clinically important questions that are of immediate relevance to their day-to-day practice and ultimately the welfare of patients.”
— ACTA Chair Professor John Zalcberg

The PEPTIC Study is the largest randomised clinical trial ever undertaken in the field of intensive care medicine, gathering findings from almost 27,000 patients from fifty ICUs in five countries. Nearly two-thirds (18,000) of the total 27,000 study participants came from New Zealand and Australia. The PEPTIC study has been downloaded 96,479 times and was one of the Journal of the American Medical Association’s (JAMA’s) most viewed studies in 2020.

“These awards are a tremendous acknowledgment of the important work being done at the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand to improve outcomes for critically ill patients all around the world.”
— Professor Paul Young, MRINZ deputy director and PEPTIC Study