SWOG Cancer Research Network

Register now for SWOG's spring 2025 group meeting! https://lnkd.in/eziWucdv

Our SWOG Cancer Research Network group chair's Front Line blog: * Pitching the PAC for Maximum ImPACt * Our patient advocate committee (PAC) continues to top itself. Over the past year or so, it's created and operationalized a new model for bringing advocate insight into the early stages of clinical trial concept development. The approach is complementary to (and probably synergistic with) the disease- or committee-aligned advocate model we've been using so successfully. And our study teams are queuing up to benefit from it. A year later, we can declare the Pitch the PAC initiative an unqualified success!? https://lnkd.in/emgTjyRE

A Message from the NCTN Group Chairs: The Importance of Research Funding Dear Colleagues and Friends, The Cooperative Groups that come together in the National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) are responsible for a number of significant advances in cancer treatment arising over the past 40 years. In that time, as published by?Joe Unger et al (Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2023), this research has led to an estimated 14 million life-years saved for patients with cancer, in an incredibly cost-effective manner ($326 per life-year saved). In communities and cancer centers across the land, Cooperative Group trials are continually changing standards of care and providing much needed treatment options for patients. As Chairs of the US Cooperative Groups, we are grateful for The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Cancer Institute (NCI) funding that has made this lifesaving work possible and concerned about the impact of the proposed changes in their budgets. We encourage you to emphasize and promote the significance of our collective work in public discourse. Policymakers should be aware of the contributions of our research to local economies. A guide to this is provided by NIH: In fiscal year 2023, every $1 of NIH funding generated approximately $2.46 of economic activity. The multiplier is well-recognized, creates employment, and is a key factor behind the extensive availability of cutting-edge, practice-changing trials. It is important to emphasize that our work has a patient-centered focus. We rely on patients to help set research priorities, as part of our commitment to reducing the side effects of treatment and improving the patients’ quality of life. The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has issued a statement of concern, as well as a call to action. We are providing a link to?the full statement here to invite our members to engage in informing legislators about the critical importance of NIH and NCI’s mission, and that progress against cancer is being made in nearly every congressional district. It is essential that we advocate for widespread support of the Cooperative Groups' efforts in providing treatment options to cancer patients throughout the US. Please?follow this link to the AACR statement, which includes a button to allow you to send comments to your representative. On behalf of: Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology: Eva Galanis, MD Children's Oncology Group: Douglas Hawkins, MD ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group: Peter O’Dwyer, MD, & Mitch Schnall, MD, PhD NRG ONCOLOGY: Quynh-Thu Le, MD, Robert Mannel, MD, & Norman Wolmark, MD SWOG Cancer Research Network: Charles Blanke, MD https://lnkd.in/eBYKwADA

Spring group meeting registration is OPEN! SWOG Cancer Research Network’s spring meeting will take place April 30 - May 3 at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco. Most open sessions will be live-streamed. Please visit the group meeting page to view the schedule and register:?https://lnkd.in/eziWucdv

Our SWOG group chair's blog: *Nothing but Blue Skies (Thinking about Social Media)* Like so many others from the #MedTwitter realm, SWOG Cancer Research Network has expanded to #BlueskySocial. If you're curious, here's detail on how to explore the platform, and even a SWOG starter pack. https://lnkd.in/ey5xPHrm

The Lung-MAP 3.0 revision allows sites to submit a patient’s prior tissue test results from almost any CLIA-certified next-generation sequencing (NGS) platform that is sufficiently broad (likely any test with more than 150 markers) to have that patient assigned to a Lung-MAP sub-study at time of progression. ·??????A list of dozens of accepted commercial and academic tests is published with the protocol revision. ·??????This list covers the vast majority of all NGS-based tests used today with patients with non-small cell lung cancer. ·??????Additions will be made to the list regularly. ·??????If a test used with your patient is?not?on the list, you can submit a request and the Lung-MAP team will certify, usually within one day, whether the test meets the requirements for Lung-MAP.? lung-map.org

Our SWOG Cancer Research Network group chair's blog: *Spring Group Meeting: Shorter, But Sweeter* We've consolidated our group meeting schedule from 4 days to 3, starting in spring of 2025 in San Francisco. We think this change will deliver substantial benefits, including a significant reduction in costs. Thursday to Saturday, May 1 - 3, Hyatt Regency San Francisco https://lnkd.in/eTNVAgvA

The Coltman Fellowship program has helped 26 outstanding researchers learn trial methodology within the SWOG Cancer Research Network environment and lead independent, impactful clinical research. Apply by March 15 for our next award #SWOGonc https://lnkd.in/gh_u_XAD

Our SWOG Cancer Research Network group chair's blog: *Spring Group Meeting: Shorter, But Sweeter* We've consolidated our group meeting schedule from 4 days to 3, starting in spring of 2025 in San Francisco. We think this change will deliver substantial benefits, including a significant reduction in costs. https://lnkd.in/eTNVAgvA

#SWOGonc committee chairs may request up to $15K annually to support special meeting needs associated with SWOG Cancer Research Network group meetings *OR* those of other organizations. Apply early! https://lnkd.in/gfBsXFbh