Nebraska Health System Embraces Cancer Clinical Trials—The Clinical Research as a Care Option

The Morrison Cancer Center (MCC), part of the Mary Lanning Healthcare system, introduces clinical trials, offering advanced investigational therapies for cancer patients in this part of the United States (Nebraska). Now cancer patients, often based in rural areas far from academic medical centers, can access new potentially lifesaving treatments and procedures. To make this happen MCC partnered academically with the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Center (FPBCC). They also teamed with the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology; an investigational site network focused on cancer research. The center selected private equity backed IRB consolidator Western Copernicus Group (WCG) as the Institutional Review Board. Note the other consolidator among the central IRBs is Advarra. Local media report that MCC Clinical Trials Coordinator Joan Meese and MCC Director David Jones have attended several virtual meetings for training and completing pivotal steps toward the program.

The cancer network brings the research, expertise and protocols to the health system. The Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, a National Cancer Institute-funded cancer cooperative group formed in 2011, conducts clinical trials to validate new strategies for preventing and treating a broad range of cancers. The Alliance provides a scientific and operational infrastructure for innovative clinical and translational research in academic and community settings.