The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched the Cancer Screening Research Network, a clinical trials network to evaluate emerging cancer screening technologies. The new network will support the Biden-Harris Administration’s Cancer Moonshot initiative by investigating how to identify cancer early.
“There are many cancers we still cannot reliably detect until it is so late that they become extremely difficult to treat,” said W. Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD, Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). “Emerging technologies such as multicancer detection tests could transform cancer screening and help to extend the lives of many more [patients]. We need to be sure these technologies work and understand how to use them, so they benefit everyone,” she emphasized.
W. Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD
Pilot Study and Funding
In 2024, the Cancer Screening Research Network will launch a pilot study to address the feasibility of using multicancer detection tests in future randomized controlled trials. Researchers will enroll up to 24,000 patients to inform the design of a much larger randomized controlled trial.
Initial funding will provide resources for study coordination, communication activities, statistics and data management, and accrual and enrollment of participants into the studies and clinical trials. Eight institutions will receive NCI funding to carry out the early activities of the network.
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center will coordinate communications and data management. The other funded institutions that will lead efforts in their areas are Henry Ford Health and Michigan State University Health Sciences; Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Kaiser Permanente Southern California, and Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine; OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences; University of Colorado Cancer Center; University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center; Virginia Commonwealth University, Inova, and Sentara Health; and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
For more information on the Cancer Screening Research Network, visit prevention.cancer.gov.
