Gastrointestinal cancers and the cooperative groups-2011

There have been extensive changes in the operation of the U.S. cooperative group structure over the past 5 to 10 years that have major implications for the functioning of the clinical trial system. They relate to the formation of disease-specific steering committees and task forces, the findings and implementation of the Operational Efficiency Working Group (OEWG), and the overall restructuring of the cooperative groups themselves. I will discuss these topics separately. Many of the changes resulted from three reports issued by the Clinical Trials Working Group (http://ccct.cancer.gov/about/reports#clinical_trials), the Translational Research Working Group (http://ccct.cancer.gov/about/reports#clinical_trials), and the Institute of Medicine (http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2010/A-National-Cancer-Clinical-Trials-System-for-the-21st-Century-Reinvigorating-the-NCI-Cooperative.aspx).