title: Improving cancer outcomes through international collaboration in academic cancer treatment trials.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The need for international collaboration in cancer clinical trials has grown stronger as we have made progress both in cancer treatment and screening. We sought to identify those efforts already underway which facilitate such collaboration, as well as barriers to greater collaboration.
  
  
  METHODS
  We reviewed the collective experiences of many cooperative groups, governmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and academic investigators in their work to build international collaboration in cancer clinical trials across multiple disease sites.
  
  
  RESULTS
  More than a decade of work has led to effective global harmonization for many of the elements critical to cancer clinical trials. Many barriers remain, but effective international collaboration in academic cancer treatment trials should become the norm, rather than the exception.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our ability to strengthen international collaborations will result in maximization of our resources and patients, permitting us to change practice by establishing more effective therapeutic strategies. Regulatory, logistical, and financial hurdles, however, often hamper the conduct of joint trials. We must work together as a global community to overcome these barriers so that we may continue to improve cancer treatment for patients around the world.
authors.affiliation: National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892-7436, USA. tt6m@nih.gov
authors.forename: Edward L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Trimble
authors.forename: Jeffrey S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Abrams
authors.forename: Ralph M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: Fabien
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Calvo
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cazap
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Deye
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Eisenhauer
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Fitzgerald
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lacombe
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Parmar
authors.forename: Nita
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Seibel
authors.forename: Lalitha
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shankar
authors.forename: Ann Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Swart
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Therasse
authors.forename: Bhadrasain
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vikram
authors.forename: Remy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: von Frenckell
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Friedlander
authors.forename: Keiichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fujiwara
authors.forename: Richard S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.forename: Francoise
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Meunier
mesh_terms: D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000191:economics; D004345:Drug Industry; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D038622:Internationality; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D013048:Specimen Handling; D016896:Treatment Outcome