NRG Oncology awarded NCI funding for next 6 years, receives ‘exceptional’ score

NRG Oncology, a National Cancer Institute (NCI) National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) group conducting practice-changing clinical and translational research, has been awarded funding of over $95 Million by the NCI for the next six years to continue its work as a lead protocol organization (LPO) program. During the peer review grant renewal process, NRG Oncology received the “exceptional” score of 16.

“Our organization is honored to have received such a strong vote of confidence. Wewill continue to leverage NRG Oncology’s network of physicians and nurses, statisticians, patients advocates, and other professionals to conduct meaningful research and through this research improve the lives of those affected by cancer,” stated Robert Mannel, MD, an NRG Oncology Group Chair and Director of the Stephenson Cancer Center at the University of Oklahoma.

“NRG Oncology is moving forward from our exceptional ranking with inspired enthusiasm to continue to evolve our research, structure, and methods to improve outcomes for patients,” added Norman Wolmark, MD, an NRG Oncology Group Chair and Medical Director of Breast Surgical Oncology, Cancer Research and Clinical Trials at Allegheny Health Network.

NRG Oncology is refining its strategic plan for the next six years. This plan will address elements necessary for ongoing success, including a focus on increasing accrual to protocols, improving support, guidance, and education pathways for young investigators, and raising awareness of clinical cancer research.

“The NCI asked us to identify our publications in our first four years of operation which materially changed or defined cancer care. We identified over fifty such publications, and this incredible productivity led to our exceptional score. NRG Oncology will build on this success to drive even greater progress and innovation over the next six years,” noted Dr. Walter J. Curran Jr., MD, FACR, FASCO, an NRG Oncology Group Chair and Director of the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University.

The six year grant cycle started March 1, 2019.

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NRG Oncology conducts practice-changing, multi-institutional clinical and translational research to improve the lives of patients with cancer. Founded in 2012, NRG Oncology is a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit corporation that integrates the research of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP), the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), and the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG). The research network seeks to carry out clinical trials with emphases on gender-specific malignancies, including gynecologic, breast, and prostate cancers, and on localized or locally advanced cancers of all types. NRG Oncology’s extensive research organization comprises multidisciplinary investigators, including medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, surgeons, physicists, pathologists, and statisticians, and encompasses more than 1,300 research sites located world-wide with predominance in the United States and Canada. NRG Oncology is supported primarily through grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and is one of five research groups in the NCI’s National Clinical Trials Network.

http://www.nrgoncology.org