Funding oncology clinical trials: are cooperative group trials sustainable?

Purpose: Many oncology clinical trials departments (CTDs) are in serious fiscal deficit and their sustainability is in jeopardy. This study investigates whether the payment models used to fund industry versus cooperative group trials contribute to the fiscal deficit of a CTD.

Methods: We examined the lifetime costs of all cooperative group and industry trials activated in the CTD of a cancer center between 2007 and 2011.