As a National Cancer Institute (NCI) Network Lead Academic Participating Site (NLAPS), Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) will provide leadership and robust accruals for the National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) Program. As evidenced by our prior success as a NCI U10-funded NLAPS partner, the HCI NLAPS will contribute to the development and conduct of clinical trials in association with SWOG, NRG Oncology, and Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology (ALLIANCE) NCTN Groups, as well as substantial accrual to clinical trials across the entire NCTN. The HCI NLAPS executive team is well-qualified and experienced in cooperative group research. The PI, David Gaffney, MD, PhD, is a radiation oncologist with a long history of leadership and participation in NCTN activities. HCI's faculty adds significantly to the leadership of the NCTN program through participation on steering committees, task forces, and group activities. In the past four years, three HCI faculty were national principal investigators (PIs, study chairs); two faculty members are national PIs of pending trials. In 2015, HCI advanced to Comprehensive Cancer Center status, receiving an overall merit descriptor of `Exceptional'. Housed at the University of Utah, the only academic medical center in the Mountain West, HCI draws cancer clinical trial patients from across Utah, as well as from Idaho, Nevada, Montana, and Wyoming, and provides near-exclusive access to this patient population. As a NLAPS, HCI will be a strong, committed, and sustaining partner to the NCTN program as a cancer center characterized by expertise, leadership, and active accrual. HCI will work vigorously to ensure the success of the NCTN's cooperative endeavors to eradicate cancer. HCI has a vigorous and growing clinical trials program, with strong commitment from the University of Utah, substantial philanthropic support, state-of-the-art facilities, a dedicated Cancer Hospital, and a centralized infrastructure for its clinical research enterprise housed in new, contiguous space. Our Center also has unique assets of value to clinical research, including rural and Native American populations, an NCI Center for Quantitative Imaging Excellence, and the Utah Population Database, a powerful interlinkage of population based genealogical data and statewide medical and vital records. HCI has demonstrated its strong commitment to participate in NCTN trials. In the year 2020 (as of Oct 31), 23% (129/543) of HCI therapeutic accruals were to NCTN trials. More than 59 NCTN therapeutic trials are currently open to accrual, including rare disease trials. Further, UG1 Grant Year 2 NCTN trials saw an increase in the median accrual to 10 patients per month, this exceeds the High Performance target and base award set for HCI. We request supplemental funding for Grant Year 1 to support the higher accrual rates.
Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) provides leadership in the development, conduct, and oversight of NCTN cooperative clinical trials; comprehensive support for the network, robust accruals to a broad array of trials including trials in rare cancers, and unique assets that contribute value to the NCTN Program. HCI plans to utilize the supplemental funding towards personnel, outpatient care costs, materials and supplies required to support the projected higher accrual compared to the goal in Grant Year 1.
