Drug Discovery and Development

  • Home Drug Discovery and Development
  • Drug Discovery
  • Women in Pharma and Biotech
  • Oncology
  • Neurological Disease
  • Infectious Disease
  • Resources
    • Video features
    • Podcast
    • Voices
    • Webinars
  • Pharma 50
    • 2025 Pharma 50
    • 2024 Pharma 50
    • 2023 Pharma 50
    • 2022 Pharma 50
    • 2021 Pharma 50
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE

Community oncology groups driving more clinical trials

By Brian Buntz | February 2, 2023

Business, Technology, Internet and network concept. Business man working on the tablet of the future, select on the virtual display: Clinical trial

[Image courtesy of Adobe Stock]

In the U.S., most cancer patients receive care in a community setting, a unique care model that traces its origins back to the original war on cancer. Since then, the National Cancer Institute and other organizations have supported this model of pushing more cancer care to community settings. Community oncology groups are poised to conduct a greater share of clinical trials in the coming years. 

The traditional approach to oncology clinical research

Traditionally, clinical trials in cancer have disproportionately been conducted in large academic centers such as the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, MD Anderson Cancer Center, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Mayo Clinic. These centers are often established as training facilities, according to Jeff Elton, CEO of ConcertAI, with a reimbursement model allowing clinicians to spend equal time on research and patient care.

Elton said the clinical trial participation rate could range from 20% to 60% in such academic centers. But the trial participation rate in community settings is roughly 6%, according to Elton. While the majority of patients are in community settings, only a minority of them have access to clinical trials.” 

Clinical trials play a vital role in cancer care as they offer patients access to the latest treatment options, helping them make informed decisions about their care. In addition, new therapeutic entities are often the best options in oncology. “That’s why trials really matter in cancer care,” Elton said.

While community-based groups have shown interest in conducting clinical trials, biopharmaceutical companies have traditionally found academic centers easier to work with owing to their staff and infrastructure.

Biopharma companies traditionally had little incentive to conduct trials in community settings, but that is changing. Many academic centers are running out of capacity. “For biopharma, they’re now finding the academic centers have problems performing in the trials,” Elton said. Some centers have under-accrued patients. Over the past decade, the number of years of patent life after approval has decreased as a result of clinical trial constraints. 

Community oncology groups ramp up clinical trial focus

The FDA has recently advocated for increased diversity in clinical trial populations. “Diversity here meant many things,” Elton said. In addition to racial, ethnic and economic diversity, there is also the question of whether clinical trials accurately reflect the background of real-world patients who will receive a cancer drug. That sounds simple, but if you go to the academic centers, patients tend to be younger, healthier and have higher economic means. 

One way to improve clinical trial diversity is to shift more studies to community centers, where patients more accurately reflect national demographics. For community settings to close the clinical trial proficiency gap, however, requires building a more robust infrastructure. 

A variety of community oncology groups emerging

New organizations such as Exigent Research have thus emerged to improve cancer care. Exigent draws from a network of more than two dozen independent community oncology practices that offer centralized services to accelerate clinical trial access. 

Another similar organization is the American Oncology Network (AON). Founded in 2018, AON is a physician-led, community-based oncology management organization focused on optimizing cancer across 18 states. 

There’s also OneOncology, a Tennessee-based organization dedicated to providing advanced cancer care in community settings, and the Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute, which offers advanced treatment options to patients in almost 100 locations across its community-based network. 

Such community oncology groups tend to focus on protecting independent research. “It’s a very interesting way of providing some formalized infrastructure but not forcing a consolidation or merger of different practice entities all over the country,” Elton said. “A lot of these practice entities want to stay independent. They want to stay locally aligned and continue working with local hospitals.” 

Community oncology groups’ level of publishing activity and impact on treatment guidelines may trail that of academic medical centers, which have a historically more significant focus on research. But community oncology groups are finding increased engagement with leading biopharmas and are thus receiving more support for clinical trials. 

Community-based oncology organizations will likely expand their influence as they broaden their research efforts. Although these groups have traditionally had lower levels of publishing activity and impact on treatment guidelines compared to academic medical centers, they are now receiving more support from biopharmaceutical companies. 

Another factor that could bode well for community settings is biopharma’s increased focus on the concept of burden when designing clinical trials. The goal is to “reduce burden for both patients and practices,” Elton said. 


Filed Under: clinical trials, Drug Discovery
Tagged With: community oncology groups
 

About The Author

Brian Buntz

As the pharma and biotech editor at WTWH Media, Brian has almost two decades of experience in B2B media, with a focus on healthcare and technology. While he has long maintained a keen interest in AI, more recently Brian has made making data analysis a central focus, and is exploring tools ranging from NLP and clustering to predictive analytics.

Throughout his 18-year tenure, Brian has covered an array of life science topics, including clinical trials, medical devices, and drug discovery and development. Prior to WTWH, he held the title of content director at Informa, where he focused on topics such as connected devices, cybersecurity, AI and Industry 4.0. A dedicated decade at UBM saw Brian providing in-depth coverage of the medical device sector. Engage with Brian on LinkedIn or drop him an email at bbuntz@wtwhmedia.com.

Related Articles Read More >

Zoliflodacin wins FDA nod for treatment of gonorrhea
FDA approved ENFLONSIA for the prevention of RSV in Infants
First clinical study results of Dupixent for atopic dermatitis in patients with darker skin tones 
Labcorp widens precision oncology toolkit, aims to speed drug-trial enrollment
“ddd
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest news and trends happening now in the drug discovery and development industry.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
Drug Discovery and Development
  • MassDevice
  • DeviceTalks
  • Medtech100 Index
  • Medical Design Sourcing
  • Medical Design & Outsourcing
  • Medical Tubing + Extrusion
  • Subscribe to our E-Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • R&D World
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Pharmaceutical Processing World

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search Drug Discovery & Development

  • Home Drug Discovery and Development
  • Drug Discovery
  • Women in Pharma and Biotech
  • Oncology
  • Neurological Disease
  • Infectious Disease
  • Resources
    • Video features
    • Podcast
    • Voices
    • Webinars
  • Pharma 50
    • 2025 Pharma 50
    • 2024 Pharma 50
    • 2023 Pharma 50
    • 2022 Pharma 50
    • 2021 Pharma 50
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE