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Interim DSMB Named for National Lung Screening Trial An interim Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) has been appointed for the 50,000-participant National Lung Screening Trial (NLST), following the resignation of the trial's original DSMB on March 26. The DSMB Chair, Dr. Sylvan Green, Arizona Cancer Center, explained that the board was resigning because individual members do not have liability insurance coverage as part of the professional services contract under which they were secured for the trial. In response, officials from NCI (which is sponsoring the trial) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are working together to resolve this issue and quickly appointed an interim DSMB. The interim board is composed of NIH scientists with appropriate clinical and research expertise.
NCI policies require that all clinical trials that the institute sponsors have a DSMB. The activities of DSMBs are distinct from those performed by IRBs, which review and approve research protocols for clinical trials prior to their launch. Both IRBs and DSMBs, however, play critical roles in ensuring patient safety. Read more 
A Strong Foundation for Progress Against Cancer The news last week was replete with excellent research presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting in Orlando. Meetings like this energize the cancer community, bringing together some of the most brilliant and dedicated researchers to share insights, educate the next generation of investigators, and celebrate progress. At the AACR meeting, I had the privilege to give an address about the opportunities we now have to make unprecedented advances in the prevention, diagnosis and early detection, and treatment of cancer. This talk came just a few weeks after the publication in Fortune magazine of an in-depth article - written by a cancer survivor - that addressed the state of cancer research in the United States. Read more
This NCI Cancer Bulletin is produced by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). NCI, which was established in 1937, leads a national effort to eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer. Through basic and clinical biomedical research and training, NCI conducts and supports research that will lead to a future in which we can prevent cancer before it starts, identify cancers that do develop at the earliest stage, eliminate cancers through innovative treatment interventions, and biologically control those cancers that we cannot eliminate so they become manageable, chronic diseases.
For more information on cancer, call 1-800-4-CANCER or visit http://www.cancer.gov.
NCI Cancer Bulletin staff can be reached at ncicancerbulletin@mail.nih.gov. |
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