The CALGB is comprised of 26 academic medical centers and over 200 affiliated community hospitals joined in the pursuit of improved cancer treatment and better understanding of tumor biology and cancer treatment outcomes via the conduct of controlled clinical trials. Over 4,000 members of the Group including oncology physicians, radiologists, pathologists, statisticians, clinical research associates, oncology nurses, pharmacists, health outcomes researchers, and basic scientists participate in these studies. From 25-30 Phase III protocols are active at any one time, along with phase II and phase I studies that provide preliminary data required for the appropriate design of large scale randomized trials. Multidisciplinary disease committees of the Group design and implement protocols for the treatment of patients with leukemia, lymphoma, breast, respiratory, Gl and GU cancer. Modality committees, including Leukemia Correlative Sciences, Imaging, Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Surgery, Transplant, Cancer in the Elderly, Cancer Control and Health Outcomes, and Oncology Nursing provide expertise that enhances the contribution of these disciplines to CALGB studies. Scientific resources committees, including Clinical Research Associates, Pathology and Radiation Oncology, provide essential quality assurance and training activities for the Group. Major areas of emphasis in CALGB include development of innovative treatments for patients with cancer;studies of molecular predictors of prognosis and response to therapy;studies of the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and pharmacogenetics of new and established anticancer drugs;evaluation of minimally invasive surgical techniques and novel imaging technologies;determining the cost and cost-effectiveness of new cancer therapies;evaluating the impact of cancer and its treatment on the quality of life of cancer patients and their caregivers;developing new strategies for cancer prevention;and addressing the needs of special populations, particularly minorities and the elderly. A new core facility in cancer imaging was established to provide central review and archiving of PET and CT images and to set standards for image acquisition and transmission at CALGB institutions. Three established biorepositories collect, archive and distribute frozen and paraffin-embedded solid tumor tissues, leukemia cells, plasma, serum, urine and DNA for correlative science studies.

Public Health Relevance

CALGB is a national cancer clinical trials group that aims to develop improved cancer treatments, determine the patient subsets most likely to benefit from those treatments and understand the impact of cancer and its treatment on patients, their caregivers and society as a whole. CALGB has contributed to improvements in public health in a number of ways including conducting trials that have resulted in FDA approval of new drugs developing more effective chemotherapy regimens and identifying biological subsets of patients who are most likely to benefit or experience toxicity from specific cancer treatments. Through our work to individualize cancer treatment we also aim to reduce the costs of cancer care to individual patients and the healthcare system.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Cooperative Clinical Research--Cooperative Agreements (U10)
Project #
5U10CA037447-29
Application #
8519057
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZCA1-SRLB-Y (J1))
Program Officer
Minasian, Lori M
Project Start
1983-09-30
Project End
2015-05-31
Budget Start
2013-06-01
Budget End
2014-05-31
Support Year
29
Fiscal Year
2013
Total Cost
$2,684,982
Indirect Cost
$282,543
Name
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Department
Type
DUNS #
030811269
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02115
Orchard, Tonya S; Andridge, Rebecca R; Yee, Lisa D et al. (2018) Diet Quality, Inflammation, and Quality of Life in Breast Cancer Survivors: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Pilot Study Data. J Acad Nutr Diet 118:578-588.e1
Parsons, J Kellogg; Pierce, John P; Mohler, James et al. (2018) Men's Eating and Living (MEAL) study (CALGB 70807 [Alliance]): recruitment feasibility and baseline demographics of a randomized trial of diet in men on active surveillance for prostate cancer. BJU Int 121:534-539
Holstein, Sarah A; Jung, Sin-Ho; Richardson, Paul G et al. (2017) Updated analysis of CALGB (Alliance) 100104 assessing lenalidomide versus placebo maintenance after single autologous stem-cell transplantation for multiple myeloma: a randomised, double-blind, phase 3 trial. Lancet Haematol 4:e431-e442
Basch, Ethan; Dueck, Amylou C; Rogak, Lauren J et al. (2017) Feasibility Assessment of Patient Reporting of Symptomatic Adverse Events in Multicenter Cancer Clinical Trials. JAMA Oncol 3:1043-1050
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Hacker, Eileen Danaher; Fink, Anne M; Peters, Tara et al. (2017) Persistent Fatigue in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Survivors. Cancer Nurs 40:174-183
Mandelblatt, Jeanne S; Cai, Ling; Luta, George et al. (2017) Frailty and long-term mortality of older breast cancer patients: CALGB 369901 (Alliance). Breast Cancer Res Treat 164:107-117
Himelstein, Andrew L; Foster, Jared C; Khatcheressian, James L et al. (2017) Effect of Longer-Interval vs Standard Dosing of Zoledronic Acid on Skeletal Events in Patients With Bone Metastases: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA 317:48-58
Ji, YongLi; Rounds, Tiffany; Crocker, Abigail et al. (2016) The Effect of Atorvastatin on Breast Cancer Biomarkers in High-Risk Women. Cancer Prev Res (Phila) 9:379-84
Zimmerman, Collin; Atherton, Pamela J; Pachman, Deirdre et al. (2016) MC11C4: a pilot randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study of venlafaxine to prevent oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy. Support Care Cancer 24:1071-8

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