National Cancer Institute
National Cancer Institute U.S. National Institutes of Health www.cancer.gov

More Highlights

NCI's Clinical Trials Cooperative Group Program: Infrastructure in Transition

NCI asked the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies to review the NCI Clinical Trials Cooperative Group Program in order to gather independent and expert perspectives on the state of cancer clinical trials and to obtain advice about improvements in the NCI Cooperative Group Program. To learn more about NCI's response to the IOM Report, visit NCI's Progress on IOM Goals and Recommendation.

2011 Funding Program: Biomarker, Imaging, and Quality of Life Studies Funding Program (BIQSFP) (04/01/2011)

Available to funded Cooperative Groups (CGs) and Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP) Research Bases to support essential biomarker, imaging, and quality of life studies associated with clinical trial concepts for large (at least 100 patients), randomized phase 2 therapeutic trials and phase 3 therapeutic, cancer prevention, and primary symptom management clinical trials. Additional eligibility this year is for phase 3 studies with an embedded Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (CEA) study. This is an "open competition" announcement with no specific receipt date.

NCI Recognizes Clinical Investigators with Cancer Clinical Investigator Team Leadership Award (11/16/2010)

NCI recognizes 12 outstanding clinical investigators with a two-year award to acknowledge and support leaders in clinical cancer research programs at NCI Designated Cancer Centers. This second cohort of investigators joins a group of 11 other outstanding clinical investigators who received this prestigious award last year. An updated request for applications from NCI Designated Cancer Centers is anticipated in early 2011.

New Supplemental Funds for NCI Grants Available (5/28/2010)

A funding opportunity is now available: Immune Response Modifier (IRM) Special Translational Research Acceleration Project (STRAP). Investigators who are interested in submitting a request in response to the IRM STRAP should consult the Notice (NOT-CA-10-025) or can view more about the STRAP Program.

The Operational Efficiency Working Group (OEWG) Report is Released (3/23/2010)

To dramatically improve the current process of activating new clinical trials, NCI's Clinical and Translational Research Advisory Committee (CTAC) initiated a review of the clinical trial activation process. On March 23, CTAC's Operational Efficiency Working Group presented its final report, outlining a series of recommended changes to NCIs current clinical trials activation procedures. These changes aim to decrease, by at least half, the time it takes to initiate new clinical studies.

START (Standard Terms of Agreement for Research Trials) Clauses Now Available

The proposed START (Standard Terms of Agreement for Research Trials) clauses are designed to help cut the time spent on contract negotiations between pharmaceutical/biotech companies and academic medical centers.

NCI's New Clinical Trials Reporting Program (CTRP)

The purpose of the program is to establish a comprehensive database containing regularly updated information on all NCI funded interventional clinical trials. Grantees will be requested to enter specific information about each clinical trial into the database. NCI will use this information to coordinate research efforts to optimize our nation's investment in cancer research.