Under the Wire - Dr Phillip Altman on Clinical Trials and COVID

Under the Wire

Dr Altman is a well-known Australian authority on clinical trials and regulatory affairs with more than 40 years of experience in designing, managing and reporting of clinical trials and in working with the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration in gaining new drug approvals.

He has worked in senior managerial positions for several multinational companies including Merrell-Dow, Hoechst, Roussel and GD Searle.

He established Australia’s first contract research organisations (CROs), where he served as a Senior Industry Consultant for more than half of the pharmaceutical companies present in Australia.

His career has seen him involved in more than one hundred clinical trials (Phase I through IV). He has been personally responsible for the market approval of numerous new drugs since joining the pharmaceutical industry in 1974.

A graduate of Sydney University with an Honours degree in Pharmacy, Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy (pharmacology and pharmaceutical chemistry) degrees, he co-founded and is a Life Member of the largest professional body of pharmaceutical industry scientists involved in clinical research and regulatory affairs (Association of Regulatory and Clinical Scientists to the Australian Pharmaceutical Industry Ltd. - ARCS). ARCS presently has more than 2000 members.

More recently Dr. Altman has presented to the Cross Party Covid Inquiry held in Brisbane and has provided expert reports in relation to both the Australian and NZ Judicial Review and High Court cases in relation to the Covid vaccines