Cancer Council Victoria distributed $800,000 to 43 hospitals around the state, with the Barwon South West region receiving the biggest allocation outside the metropolitan area. 

A total of $600,000 came from donations to Cancer Council Victoria and $100,000 grants from the Victorian Department of Health and the Victorian Cancer Agency.

The money will be used to support the management of clinical trials in the region and will help pay for staff and provide recruitment data. 

Cancer Council Victoria chief executive officer Todd Harper said people with cancer were now living longer with a better quality of life.

“That’s due to clinical trials,” Mr Harper said.

“Some of the best clinical trial work in the world is being done here in Victoria and we are incredibly proud to have played a supporting role in that work thanks to the ongoing generosity of our donors.”

Mr Harper said since the clinical trials management scheme began in 1988 more than $15 million had been invested into Victorian clinical trials, mostly thanks to donations to Cancer Council Victoria.

“Clinical trials are the best way of testing a new treatment or seeing if a particular treatment works better than another,” he said. 

“The number of people taking part in clinical trials in Victoria has grown from 594 in 1988 to 2021 last year. 

“In total more than 37,000 Victorians have elected to take part in a trial over the past 26 years.”