The WIRB-Copernicus Group (WCG), the world's largest provider of regulatory and ethical review services for clinical research, announced the formation of a new cancer-focused institutional review board, WCG Oncology. The company also unveiled the members of its prestigious WCG Oncology Expert Advisory Board. This Board will provide strategic counsel to WCG regarding the changing oncology research landscape, covering cutting-edge theory, scientific methods, technologies, and study designs.

WCG Oncology Board members include James E. Rothman, Ph.D., chairman of cell biology at Yale Medical School, and recipient of The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2013; John E. Niederhuber, M.D., CEO of Inova Translational Medicine Institute and former director of the National Cancer Institute; and Arnold J. Levine, Ph.D., professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at the School of Natural Sciences, and professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Biochemistry at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center. They are joined by Howard I. Scher, M.D., chief of the Genitourinary Oncology Service at the Sidney Kimmel Center for Urologic and Prostate Cancers at Memorial Sloan Kettering; John M. Falletta, M.D., pediatric oncologist and IRB chair at Duke University Medical Center, and former vice chair of the Copernicus Group IRB; and George D. Demetri, M.D., director of the Ludwig Center at Harvard and senior vice president for Experimental Therapeutics at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Donald A. Deieso, Ph.D., WCG’s Chairman and CEO, commented, “Advancing science has created exciting and very promising new approaches to cancer treatment. To assure the proper risk-benefit assessment of these new approaches, the IRB members must possess a deep understanding of the underlying science and clinical aspects of the associated treatments. WCG Oncology will provide our clients with the confidence that reviews will be conducted with therapeutic focus.”

“Oncology is one of the fastest-evolving medical fields,” added WCG Chief Clinical Research Officer Lindsay McNair, M.D., M.P.H., M.S.B. “We are seeing significant advances in gene therapy, targeted treatments, and companion diagnostics. In the past four years, WCG has reviewed more than 4,000 oncology protocols, which have substantially increased in complexity. We created WCG Oncology to ensure that we continue to stay ahead of those changes and achieve our mission to improve and protect human health.”

WCG Oncology is constituted by three dedicated IRB panels, which focus wholly on the ethical oversight of oncology research, and a cadre of expert oncological specialists to assist in the review of complex and scientifically-challenging research.

The WIRB-Copernicus Group (WCG) is the world's largest and most trusted provider of regulatory and ethical review services for human research. The pioneer of independent ethical review, WCG continues to drive ingenuity in the clinical research space. Today, WCG’s solutions are built upon the foundation of ethical review, but have grown to include a suite of complementary services and technologies that expand the capabilities of the modern research professional.