DCTD Programs
DCTD’s Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program Convenes 2019 Early Drug Development Meeting
On October 17-18, 2019, the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) sponsored its annual Early Drug Development (EDD) meeting. The EDD meeting is an educational event focused on enhancing communications between the NCI and the network of CTEP-supported Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network (ETCTN)-funded early clinical trial investigators.
Academic, government, and pharmaceutical company clinical investigators and related health care personnel involved in oncology early drug development attended this meeting, which consisted of a diverse spectrum of educational sessions, clinical trial update presentations, keynote lectures, and closed meetings with ETCTN investigators (agenda).
Meeting Focus
Prioritize investigational agent selection and targeting, novel trial designs, and development and implementation of translational studies, as well as new therapeutic and imaging modalities
Meeting Highlights
Biomarker Supplement Session
DCTD staff and extramural investigators reviewed selected biomarker assay development projects that were funded through supplements to ETCTN grants to
develop novel biomarker assays to incorporate into ETCTN trials.
New NCI Initiatives Session
DCTD staff presented information on resources available to the extramural scientific community through the National Clinical Laboratory Network and
the ETCTN Interventional Radiology Working Group.
Radiopharmaceutical Session
DCTD staff presented details on several NCI initiatives, including the introduction of radiopharmaceutical agents into the ETCTN for clinical
development, personalized radiation dosimetry for targeted radionuclide therapy, and molecular imaging in theranostics development.
CTEP-sponsored Early-phase Studies: Clinical Trial Sessions
A session on early-phase immunotherapy studies included a keynote lecture by Lillian Siu, MD, Princess Margaret Hospital, on immunotherapy and
clinical trial design, and updates from eight CTEP-sponsored early-phase immunotherapy trials in a variety of cancers. A second session provided an
additional four presentations on CTEP-sponsored early-phase trials in prostate cancer, refractory solid tumors, and pediatric tumors.
The Thirteenth Annual Michaele C. Christian Oncology Drug Development Award and Lectureship
This award, honoring a mid-career oncology investigator was given to Timothy Yap, MBBS, PhD, MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Yap gave the annual lectureship: “Targeting the DNA Damage Response in Oncology.”
Jeff Moscow (L) and Michaele Christian (R) present the award to Timothy Yap.