Multi-Center Phase III Clinical Trials and NCI Cooperative Groups

The NCI-sponsored cooperative groups have made important contributions to improving treatment for many types of cancer, including breast, ovarian, colorectal, and childhood cancers. Cooperative group research has been instrumental in establishing innovative treatments that improve outcomes and quality of life. Despite these successes, the Cooperative Group Program has faced a number of challenges that threaten its effectiveness. To address this problem, the National Cancer Policy Forum (NCPF) convened a workshop titled "Multi-Center Phase III Clinical Trials and NCI Cooperative Groups" in Washington, DC, on July 1-2, 2008. The purpose of the workshop was to outline the challenges that the public clinical cancer research enterprise faces, and to identify possible solutions to these challenges. Table of Contents Front Matter Introduction Session 1A: Organization of the NCI Clinical Trials System Session 1B: Lessons from Non-Cooperative Group Multi-Center Clinical Trials Session 2: Barriers to Patient Recruitment and Physician Participation Session 3: Data Collection Standards and Monitoring Session 4: Costs of Cooperative Group Clinical Trials Summary and Wrap-Up References Abbreviations and Acronyms Glossary Appendix A: Workshop Agenda Appendix B: Workshop Speakers Appendix C: Letter from John Niederhuber, Director of the National Cancer Institute, to Members of the National Cancer Policy Forum