How Unity Health Toronto is improving access to clinical trials through its Preferred Partnership Model

Unity Health Toronto’s Preferred Partnership Model with Roche and other industry partners shortens the time it takes to start a clinical trial from an average of six to twelve months to roughly 45 calendar days.      

Clinical trials are how novel treatments are evaluated before they can be brought to market and reach the patients who need them, but launching one can take months, and every week of delay counts for patients.

The model, which has been in place for nearly two years now, sets key terms with industry partners up front, from budgets to contracts to consent forms, so trials can launch in a fraction of the usual time.

One of Unity Health’s partnerships is with Roche and supports clinical trials for a wide range of conditions, including breast cancer, dementia, multiple sclerosis and ophthalmology. The goal is the same in every case: less time on setup, more time recruiting patients and generating the evidence that improves care.

Recently, the BARLO MS Centre at Unity Health was proud to become the world’s first site in activating a trial studying Roche’s home-based drug delivery system for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). As a global leader in MS care and research, partnerships like this to streamline clinical trial procedures can allow faster access to potential new treatments for patients.

“We know clinical trials represent access to innovations, hope, and ultimately better care for our patients. At Unity Health, we are challenging the status quo’s paradigm of how healthcare institutions like ours mobilize in goal congruence with industry, clinicians and our patients,” says Mani Kang, Chief Operating Officer of Research at Unity Health Toronto. “We thank Roche, who shares our vision of how we can collectively enable better research and care for all.”

Faster startup also reflects a deeper kind of trust. That shared accountability is what makes the model work, and what positions Unity Health as a partner for bringing important and transformative research to Canadians sooner.

"Clinical trials are crucial to getting innovations and potential new treatments to Canadian patients,” says Dr. Daniel Edgcumbe, Vice-President Medical and Regulatory Affairs at Roche Canada. “Additionally, investment in clinical trials ripples outward to support highly-skilled jobs, healthcare system sustainability, and is an important driver of economic growth."