The Southwest Oncology Group, or SWOG, is a clinical research cooperative group that designs and conducts large-scale trials of new cancer treatments and prevention regimens.
SWOG is one of the largest of the National Cancer Institute-supported clinical trial cooperative groups.
SWOG has almost 5,000 affiliated physician researchers participating at more than 500 institutions, most in the US, but a number in Canada, Sweden and Saudi Arabia as well.
Among the Southwest Oncology Group's institutions are 19 National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers.
Though SWOG originated in the southwestern U.S., it has long since become a national organization. Its core bases of operation are spread across the country:
the Group Chair's Office in Ann Arbor, Michigan
the Associate Group Chair's Office in Orange, California
the Operations Office in San Antonio, Texas
the Statistical Center in Seattle, Washington
SWOG conducts many large Phase III trials such as the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT), a prostate cancer prevention study in which more than 35,000 men enrolled. But the Group also conducts groundbreaking Phase I and Phase II studies to test new targeted therapies, and tissue studies make use of the latest discoveries in cancer genetics.
In 2008 SWOG clinical trials enrollment accounted for more than one quarter of all clinical trial enrollments by the NCI-supported clinical trial cooperative groups.
SWOG's budget for fiscal year 2008 exceeded $45 million.
