Definition

A National Cancer Institute (NCI) program that gives funds and other support to cancer research organizations to conduct cancer clinical trials. The National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) helps these organizations develop new clinical trials and manage their regulatory, financial, membership, and scientific committees. It also helps with statistics and data management, Institutional Review Boards (IRBs), and patient tissue sample collection and storage. This support allows researchers to conduct trials that focus on specific cancers and patient populations and new treatment methods. The groups in the NCTN include the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group, NRG Oncology, SWOG, Children’s Oncology Group (COG), and the NCI of Canada-Clinical Trials Group (NCIC-CTG). The NCTN was previously known as the NCI Clinical Trials Cooperative Group Program. Also called NCTN.