Defining a New Role for the National Cancer Institute Cooperative Groups: More Science, Fewer Trials

Abstract

In the context of major changes, it is likely that the National Cancer Institute's Cooperative Groups will not have the resources to perform many of the traditional, definitive, randomized phase III trials of the past; industry will have to play a greater role in refining drug sequences or combinations. The new National Clinical Trials Network will have an opportunity to produce results with a major impact on cancer drug development.