Gratitude for Another Great Year

The theme for 2019 was productivity! With an intentional exclamation point. That’s especially true of some of our often-unsung committees.

Myeloma members completed enrollment on S1702 (single-agent isatuximab for relapsed/refractory light chain amyloidosis) and activated S1803 (lenalidomide +/- daratumumab as post-­transplant maintenance therapy). GI members presented not one but two studies at the ASCO annual meeting. They also completed S1505, the first ever NCTN randomized trial using a neoadjuvant strategy for treating localized pancreatic cancer, and launched S1815 – the first ever NCTN trial phase III trial in advanced biliary cancer. The lymphoma committee saw several of its young investigators receive training awards, and the group conducted a five-year follow-up of S1106, demonstrating continued excellent outcomes for patients with mantle cell lymphoma using bendamustine and rituximab as induction therapy prior to autologous stem cell transplantation.

At least two research support committees – imaging and radiation oncology – had a pretty good year, too. Two non-small cell lung cancer trials under development under our Lung-MAP precision medicine trial have major imaging components, while the radiation oncology committee assisted in the development of GU and lung trials. Radiation oncology also hosted a strategic planning session at the fall SWOG meeting in Chicago and is working on a white paper on oligometastatic diseases that came out of that planning session.

There are so many other accomplishments from all corners of SWOG this year. When this blog returns on Jan. 3, you’ll learn more in our annual Impact Report.

For now, I wish you a warm and wonderful holiday season. I hope to see you back here in 2020. Thanks for all you do for the SWOG Cancer Research Networks and for the people that we serve.