Finalist: Health Research Award
The Kids Advanced Therapeutics (KAT) program is a national leader in advanced therapeutics trials and translation, giving children with serious conditions access to promising treatments. The program drives clinical innovation through evidence-based healthcare and offers access to life-changing therapies to children with few or no treatment options.
Through strategic investment in infrastructure, staff capability, and regulatory readiness, the KAT program has led to The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network (SCHN) being a key participant in global clinical trials for rare childhood diseases. This has increased clinical trial activity over the past 4 years by 93% for SCHN and strengthened research integration into clinical care. As a result, the health system is more able to safely and effectively deliver next-generation therapies, such as gene and cell therapies. This has expanded treatment options for patients and families.
The KAT program has secured an overarching gene technology licence for AAV gene therapies, simplifying regulatory processes and attracting international sponsors to conduct trials at SCHN. To date, it has supported 9 globally competitive advanced therapeutic and early-phase trials through to patient recruitment, with 3 more in start-up. The program delivers co-designed education initiatives which give both professional and public audiences accessible, multi-lingual evidence-based resources.
Meet the other finalists for the Health Research Award.
