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Welcome to edition #1 of the SWOG Update.
For all members and friends of the Southwest Oncology Group, the SWOG Update will keep you informed of what's happening with the Group. News to report? Send it to communications@swog.org.
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Why we do what we do
Our mission is straightforward: to make progress in the prevention and cure of cancer through clinical research. Our research objectives define how we work to accomplish our mission.
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You, your colleagues, and your cooperative group in the media ...
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SWOG’s SWAT team: Fast-track approval for high priority trials
No sniper rifles or Kevlar vests, but the SWOG SWAT team has been in action.
SWAT, in this case, means SWOG Activation Team, a useful acronym for the group of participants and procedures assembled to fast-track the development of a new clinical trial protocol. The goal is to move high priority studies from concept to activation in record time.
The first protocols evaluated under this SWAT approach are now known as S0800, S0816, and S0819.
The concept that would become S0819 was first approved by the Group leadership in October of 2008. Nine months later, on July 15, 2009, this phase III trial opened to accrual of patients (see the S0819 study update). The 275-day development term for this protocol contrasts to the SWOG average of about 600 days.
S0816, a phase II advanced Hodgkin lymphoma study incorporating centralized review of PET scans to determine adaptation of treatment, opened July 1st. S0800, a neoadjuvant trial for breast cancer incorporating a centralized review of diffusion MRI scans, is expected to become active in September.
The key to keeping the SWAT process on track, says SWOG Protocol Product Line Manager Dana Sparks, M.A.T., is keeping everyone who must participate in the development and review process aware that the protocol is top priority. The group uses weekly conference calls to quickly identify and remove barriers to development to ensure that a protocol in motion remains in motion.
The SWAT treatment is reserved for protocols the Group leadership has identified as top strategic priority studies, generally phase III studies but randomized phase II study concepts may be fast-tracked as well.
In the case of S0816 and S0800, for example, submitting these two phase II protocols for ACT NOW funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 moved them near the top of the priority list for rapid development and authorization.
Committee chairs should keep the SWAT option in mind when proposing high priority studies. Kevlar is optional.
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