Abstract
The Australian Clinical Trials Alliance (ACTA) impact and implementation reference group has published guidance on clinical trial planning, design, conduct and reporting, to optimise the impact of late-phase trials.1 It is critical that clinical trials are designed, executed and reported on so that the generated evidence can be implemented and applied to improve practice, health systems and policy (defined as implementability). This is particularly important for late-phase trials as results from these trials guide stakeholder decisions on adoption or removal of candidate interventions from practice and policy. The results can also be used to guide implementation, potentially supplemented by other study types. In some cases, decisions on candidate interventions may be based on a single trial, although more commonly, they are based on the synthesis of evidence from multiple trials. If the results of positive late-phase trials are not put into effect, the community benefit, impact and return on investment are lost. Therefore, to reduce wastage and optimise value to the community, who is both the funder and beneficiary of research, we need to maximise the impact of trials. This impact includes health and economic benefits and requires trials to be designed for implementability.