$15 million funding boosts cancer trials collaboration

Kingston, ON – The NCIC Clinical Trials Group (CTG) at Queen’s University has been awarded $15 million in funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health through the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) to strengthen its work leading major cancer clinical trials in Canada. The funding allows the NCIC CTG to increase its collaborations with the U.S. NCI and its National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN).

This funding from the NCI will give Canadian cancer patients access to cutting-edge international clinical trials, potentially helping to prolong and improve the quality of life of those living with cancer. It also allows NCIC CTG to open its trials to the U.S. groups.

“This funding will really increase North American collaboration in clinical cancer research,” says Elizabeth Eisenhauer, interim director of NCIC CTG.

The NCIC CTG began collaborating with U.S.-based groups in the 1990s and has successfully obtained funding from the NCI since 1997. That initial grant was the first step in facilitating a long-lasting relationship with other American cancer clinical trials groups.

NCIC CTG is the only Canadian co-operative cancer trials group conducting the entire range of cancer trials, from early phase studies to large international randomized controlled trials across all cancer types.

Reported by Anne Craig, Communications Officer, Queen’s University