BIG - NABCG
BIG and the North American Breast Cancer Group (NABCG) – a network of major US and Canadian-based research groups supported by the US National Cancer Institute (NCI), partner to identify difficult aspects of breast cancer research, focus on research areas not supported by the pharmaceutical industry, and collaborate to resolve common problems.
In order to optimise and accelerate the research process and improve the care and cure rates of patients with breast cancer, this collaboration will, in the first place, focus on:
- Setting research priorities to address difficult but significant problems in breast cancer
- Conducting joint or complementary research to avoid duplication of effort and waste of resources
- Adopting common definitions and standardizing research endpoints to facilitate data sharing
- Developing common guidelines for tissue acquisition and handling
Together, BIG and NABCG strive to improve the care and cure rates of patients with breast cancer through international collaboration.
Leadership from BIG, the North American Breast Cancer Groups (NABCG) and the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) have been meeting annually – alternating between Europe and the US – since 2005 to identify difficult areas of breast cancer research, focus on research areas not supported by the pharmaceutical industry, and collaborate to resolve common problems. The first fruits of this effort include the global launch of the ALTTO trial in 2007 and the publication of the “Recommendations for collection and handling of specimens from group breast cancer clinical trials, from onsite collection through shipping to the central bank" in JCO (2008) by Leyland‐Jones BR, Ambrosone CB, Bartlett JMS, Ellis MJC, Enos RA, Raji A, Pins MR, Zujewski JA, Hewitt SM, Forbes JF, Abramovitz M, Braga S, Cardoso F, Harbeck N, Denkert C, Jewell SD.