WIRB-Copernicus Group (WCG), the world’s largest provider of regulatory and ethical review services and software to support clinical research,  has been chosen by Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) to help expand its clinical research programme. WCG will assist CTCA in the centralisation and optimisation of its regulatory and ethical review process, allowing CTCA to manage a higher volume of cutting-edge research while maintaining the highest degree of participant protection. CTCA is a leader in integrative cancer care with a national network of five state-of-the-art hospitals in Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Tulsa.

WCG chairman and chief executive officer, Donald A. Deieso, commented, “CTCA is recognized as a leader in the field of oncology, offering comprehensive and innovative therapies to treat cancer patients. It is therefore no surprise that CTCA is assuming a more prominent role in the conduct of oncological research and follows the most rigorous, industry-leading practices to assure participant safety and regulatory compliance. We are proud to partner with CTCA and help grow its clinical research programme.”

“At CTCA, we are committed to offering our patients leading-edge cancer treatments through the continued expansion of our portfolio of evidence-based treatment options. To support our growth, we are adopting new practices to make the ethical and regulatory oversight of our clinical trials more efficient,” said President, CTCA Medicine and Science, Maurie Markman, MD. “WCG, with its significant experience in reviewing oncology research, is an ideal partner to help us expand our research programme while maintaining the highest standard of human subject protection.”

WCG Oncology, WCG’s oncology-focused oversight division, will partner with CTCA in this process. Composed of industry luminaries, expert consultants and three dedicated institutional review boards (IRBs), WCG Oncology provides a thorough review of oncology research, and brings a deep understanding of the changing oncology research landscape, cutting-edge theory, scientific methods, technologies, and study designs to the process.

CTCA will also benefit from WCG’s guidance in the centralisation and optimisation of its internal IRB. Composed of CTCA experts, and administered according to WCG’s standard operating procedures, this CTCA panel is fully accredited by the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection programmes (AAHRPP) through Western IRB (WIRB). Achieved by only 200 of approximately 3,000 IRBs in the United States, AAHRPP-accreditation confirms CTCA’s adherence to the highest standards of ethical review and human subject protection.