June 2015 Newsletter 
Clinical Trial Working Groups
  • Open trial: Renal cell carcinoma (Illinois)
  • Current concepts:
    • Bladder (Iowa)
    • Bladder (Michigan)
  • Next call: Friday, August 7 
    at 10 a.m. ET / 9 a.m. CT
  • Approved LOI: Esophageal (Indiana)
  • Next call: Thursday, July 16 
    at     1 p.m. ET / 12 p.m. CT
  • Trial in start-up: Hepatocellular (Indiana)
  • Approved LOI: Esophageal (Indiana) 
  • Current concepts:
    • Colorectal (Wisconsin)
    • Pancreatic (Illinois)
  • Next call: Thursday, July 2
    at 3 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. CT
  • Current concepts:
    • First line triple negative metastatic breast cancer (Penn State)
    • ER+ and/or PR+ and HER2- breast cancer (Illinois)
    • Newly diagnosed ER+, HER2- breast cancer (Minnesota)
  • Next call: Tuesday, August 11 
    at 4 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. CT
  • Approved LOI: Endometrial carcinoma (Northwestern)
  • Next call: Thursday, July 9 at
    2 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. CT.
  • Current concept: Squamous cell carcinoma of the skin (Rutgers)
  • Next call: Thursday, July 30 
    at 1 p.m. ET / 12 p.m. CT
  • Next call: Wednesday, July 22 
    at 11 a.m. ET / 10 a.m. CT (joint call with Multiple Myeloma group)
  • Next call: Tuesday, August 11 
    at 1 p.m. ET / 12 p.m. CT
  • Current concept: Multiple myeloma (Indiana)
  • Next call: Wednesday, July 22 at 11 a.m. ET / 12 p.m. CT (joint call with Lymphoid group)

Submit a Concept: Contact Jessica Roy at [email protected] or 317-634-5842, ext. 19

Join a CTWG: Contact Donna LaPlaca Sullivan at  [email protected] or 317-634-5842, ext. 40.

ASCO president discusses BTCRC, trends in research

2015-2016  ASCO  President Julie M. Vose, MD, MBA, FASCO, discusses collaboration in the BTCRC and current trends in clinical research. Dr. Vose is the Neumann M. and Mildred E. Harris Professorial Chair and Chief of the Oncology/Hematology Division in the Department of Internal Medicine at the  University of Nebraska Medical Center.

BTCRC Achievements

Dear colleagues,

 

I am very excited to share with you some significant achievements by the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium (BTCRC) over the past few months:

  • The BTCRC's first clinical trial opened to accrual at the University of Illinois in March and accrued the first patients in April. The Phase Ib/II trial is evaluating the anti-PD-1 antibody pembrolizumab in combination with bevacizumab in the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma and will open at other BTCRC sites in the next few months.
  • Our Big Ten Cancer Center directors met with Big Ten Commissioner James E. Delany during ASCO to share the BTCRC's progress in collaborative research, and to explore opportunities to expand public awareness of the consortium.
  • The BTCRC held a series of productive face-to-face meetings during ASCO 2015, including meetings for the BTCRC Foundation, the Steering Committee and Cancer Center Directors, six clinical trial working groups, and several meetings with industry partners.
I want to thank everyone who worked hard to make our recent meetings a great success, and for your continued work in translating the novel scientific concepts of our member institutions into clinical trials for our patients.
 
Susan Goodin, PharmD
Executive Officer
O'Regan Joins Steering Committee

Ruth M. O'Regan, MD, has joined the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium Steering Committee, representing the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center. The committee, composed of one researcher from each member institution, meets on a regular basis to review activities of the consortium and decide matters of policy. The committee determines the criteria for approving concepts for development with the BTCRC.

 

"The BTCRC provides a unique and exciting means to allow collaboration between several premier cancer institutions in the U.S.," said Dr. O'Regan. "These collaborations will allow more rapid and effective translation of promising therapies to patients with cancer, and the required translational aspects of the trials will allow us to give the correct treatments to the best suited patients. I am delighted to join the Steering Committee and to be involved in taking the network to the next level."

 

Read more.
Featured Member Profile
"Our translational science is well developed with a team of scientists solely devoted to researching cancer and drug development. It is spurring new and innovative approaches to prevention, early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer." -- Kenneth H. Cowan, MD, PhD, director of Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center (University of Nebraska), our featured member for June.

Read more.

To see past member features, click here.
NOU Magazine Features BTCRC

"As a Big Ten graduate (Michigan State - Go Green!), team work for me has always meant a well executed pass for a touchdown, or a three point shot that leaves the crowd breathless," writes cancer survivor Judy Pearson, co-founder of the Women Survivors Alliance. "But team work around the Big Ten has new meaning since the February 2013 birth of the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium (BTCRC).

 

"The concept of group research is not a new one. In 1955, the National Cancer Institute created and sponsored the Clinical Trials Cooperative Group Program. So what's the big deal about the BTCRC's work? To best understand, I had a chat with Susan Goodin, PharmD, the Executive Officer of the organization."
 

Read Judy Pearson's interview with Dr. Goodin, published on the NOU Magazine website.