The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has cleared the way for NCI and the CEO Roundtable on Cancer to move ahead with an effort to speed clinical trial contract negotiations by issuing a "business review letter" about the high-priority project.

The communication from the DoJ's Antitrust Division was requested by the CEO Roundtable to ensure there were no antitrust concerns related to the organization's ongoing efforts with NCI to develop "model language" for use in the contract agreements that govern clinical trials.

"The Department has no present intention of challenging the proposal to develop and publicize model clauses for use in clinical trial agreements," Assistant Attorney General Thomas O. Barnett explained in the letter.   Read more  

Adults aged 50 to 75 should be screened for colorectal cancer using one of three methods that are deemed equally effective in new recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). Several screening methods have now been shown to save lives, the panel of independent experts concluded: annual high-sensitivity fecal occult blood testing; sigmoidoscopy every 5 years with fecal occult testing between exams; or colonoscopy every 10 years. The recommendations appeared online October 6 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

In addition, the panel advised against routine screening for adults aged 76 to 85, saying that the potential benefits were small compared to the risks. For similar reasons, adults older than age 85 were urged to forgo screening. This was the first time the USPSTF has identified an upper age limit for colorectal cancer screening, but the group recently advised against routine screening for prostate cancer in men over age 74.   Read more  

The NCI Cancer Bulletin is produced by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). NCI, which was established in 1937, leads the national effort to eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer. Through basic, clinical, and population-based biomedical research and training, NCI conducts and supports research that will lead to a future in which we can identify the environmental and genetic causes of cancer, prevent cancer before it starts, identify cancers that do develop at the earliest stage, eliminate cancers through innovative treatment interventions, and biologically control those cancers that we cannot eliminate so they become manageable, chronic diseases. For more information on cancer, call 1-800-4-CANCER or visit http://www.cancer.gov. NCI Cancer Bulletin staff can be reached at ncicancerbulletin@mail.nih.gov.