Office of the Associate Director (OAD)

Overview

The death rate from all cancers combined has been decreasing in the United States since 1991, and since 2003 the decrease has been large enough to outpace the growth and aging of the population, reducing the actual number of cancer deaths - a remarkable turn in the decades-long fight against cancer.

This milestone has been achieved, in part, because therapeutic and preventive interventions to fight cancer are working. One key to the success of these interventions is that they were tested rigorously in the clinic. Clinical trials are the mechanism for testing new approaches for cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. More than 1500 NCI-sponsored clinical trials are conducted annually, and some 900 treatment trials are sponsored by the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) within the Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis (DCTD).

CTEP is organized into seven offices and branches:

• Office of the Associate Director
• Clinical Investigations Branch
• Clinical Trials Monitoring Branch
• Clinical Trials Operations and Informatics Branch
• Investigational Drug Branch
• Pharmaceutical Management Branch
• Regulatory Affairs Branch

Not only does CTEP identify promising agents for evaluation, but also it identifies biomolecular characteristics of malignant tumors that investigators may be able to exploit clinically. CTEP accomplishes its goals by administering, coordinating, and funding clinical trials, as well as sponsoring other clinical research. The program fosters collaborations within the cancer research community and works extensively with the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. CTEP also reaches out to patients and advocates to help establish research priorities.