Accelerating Clinical Trials of Novel Oncologic PathWays (ACTNOW)
Among the many programs NCI has designated for ARRA funding, the Phase I-II clinical trials program ACTNOW (Accelerating Clinical Trials of Novel Oncologic Pathways) holds great promise in shortening the time it takes to move new cancer therapies from discovery, to development, to approval and safe use by adult and pediatric cancer patients. The program is designed to play a significant role in enabling NCI's goal of developing personalized cancer medicine and an enhanced drug development platform.
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What is ACTNOW?
ACTNOW is an initiative in which up to 37 new early-phase cancer treatment trials are being conducted to test the effectiveness of molecularly-targeted cancer therapies. A major goal of the program is to accelerate the development and delivery of new agents that target and interrupt the molecular pathways that cancer cells use to grow, metastasize, and develop resistance to current treatments.
What are the goals of the Phase I-II Clinical Trials Program?
The major goal of the program is to shorten the time it takes to move new cancer therapies from discovery, to development, to approval and safe use by adult and childhood cancer patients. ARRA funding will ensure that scientists have adequate resources to help them develop, get approval, and conduct studies of molecularly-targeted cancer therapies in an expedited timeframe.
How much funding did these programs receive through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act?
The ACTNOW program received $36 million through the Recovery Act.
How is this program helping to stimulate the economy?
The ACTNOW program will support the work of 37 scientific teams that are conducting the early-phase molecular studies. This support will include the hiring of staff; the acquisition of technologies for diagnostic scans, specimen sample collection, and assay development; and the reimbursement of research costs associated with data management at the participating sites.
