An Open Letter to the Cancer Community Regarding Community Clinical Trials
Cancer.gov: 04/10/2014
As you are aware, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) is in the process of combining its two community-based research networks to create a single network that builds on the strengths of the Community Clinical Oncology Program/Minority-Based Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOPs) and the NCI Community Cancer Centers Program (NCCCP). This network, the NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP), will support a wide range of clinical research, including treatment-focused as well as cancer prevention and control–based clinical trials; population-based studies; and behavioral, health services, and outcomes research. It will encompass community-based cancer specialty organizations in the same manner as have the CCOPs and NCCCP, and will work closely with the National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN).
The transition to any new large clinical research structure is never easy either for the agency administering it or for those people and institutions applying to participate in it. The creation of the NCORP is no exception. Some of the difficulties are easily mitigated but others require greater efforts to ensure that the fundamental principles and values of clinical research are upheld. NCI remains fully committed to these principles, most especially our obligation to patients. Read More