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What happened to the US cancer cooperative groups? A status update ten years after the Institute of Medicine report
Author(s) -
Bertagnolli Monica M.,
Blanke Charles D.,
Curran Walter J.,
Hawkins Douglas S.,
Mannel Robert S.,
O’Dwyer Peter J.,
Schnall Mitchell D.,
Wolmark Norman
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/cncr.33209
Subject(s) - medicine , cancer , scope (computer science) , clinical trial , alternative medicine , cancer treatment , family medicine , pathology , computer science , programming language
The US cancer cooperative groups (cooperative groups) were founded in the 1950s to establish a standing infrastructure to conduct multi‐institutional cancer clinical trials. Initially funded almost entirely by the US National Cancer Institute (NCI), over the years, the research conducted by the Cooperative Groups has evolved to meet the demands of cancer clinical research, with a scope now encompassing trials to advance cancer treatment, cancer control, biomarker development and validation, and health services research, with a corresponding broadening of their funding sources. The cooperative groups are also a critical mechanism for educating the next generation of cancer clinical trialists from many different disciplines. This review outlines the overall mission, structure, and funding of the cooperative groups, beginning in 1955 when they were first established by the NCI, and describes the considerable progress against cancer achieved over the past decade.