Clinical evaluation of new chemotherapeutic agents as well as the reevaluation of older agents alone or in combination has proved to be an important facet of cancer research. Through its disease oriented committees the Southwest Oncology Group will conduct cooperative studies of testable hypotheses with continuing collaborative evaluations in specific neoplastic categories. With experienced independent investigators in multiple institutions, rapid and efficient progress of such trials is assured because of the large sample size and centralized data analysis with continuous intra-Group Quality Control. Through a proposed distributed data management system, data collection and analysis, toxicity information and protocol changes will be collated and distributed to investigators almost immediately. This type of group cooperation and collaboration provides a mechanism for the evaluation of new modalities of treatment, delivery systems, innovative procedures and basic science application. Studies on the use of bone marrow transplantation and the use of human tumor clonal assay in preducting response and directing therapy will be expanded. The multidisciplinary approach assures a multi-faceted approach to and evaluation of all proposed studies. These kinds of studies already implemented by the Southwest Oncology Group are to be continued and expanded under the present proposal.
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