By Peter J. O’Dwyer, MD (left)
and Mitchell D. Schnall, MD, PhD

The start of 2026 offers an opportunity to look back at a productive and impactful year. In this issue, we highlight key advances in breast cancer, leukemia, lung cancer, and melanoma. Results in breast cancer show how definitive trials building on observational data are needed to define the utility of even well-established technologies such as FDG-PET. The results of the FEATURE trial will open research opportunities for a large population of patients with breast cancer historically excluded from clinical trials. With more recent cutting-edge technologies applied in a “big data” context, risk models to optimize therapy choices can be defined with large trials such as TAILORx. For patients with leukemia, the benefit of blinatumomab in MRD-positive ALL has been further supported by overall survival data. Additionally, early involvement of a panel of experts in the management of acute promyelocytic leukemia was shown to greatly improve patient outcomes.

We discuss additional groundbreaking publications from our group, and this week marks the publication of the PATINA trial—conducted as a collaboration between PrECOG and several other partners—in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study demonstrates that adding the CDK4/6 inhibitor palbociclib to standard maintenance therapy significantly improves progression-free survival in patients with HR+/HER2+ metastatic breast cancer and changes the standard of care.

As new anticancer agents become more challenging to access within the public system, PrECOG’s clinical trial portfolio continues to expand, with three trials designated for FDA registration planned to open this year. Among the ECOG-ACRIN membership, 140 sites currently have a master services agreement with PrECOG, enabling rapid trial activation through this mechanism. PrECOG continues to welcome applications from sites interested in participation. To inquire about joining, please contact PrECOG.

Against this backdrop of expanding trial opportunities and infrastructure, the broader funding and policy environment remains a critical factor shaping our path forward. As we look forward to 2026, some of the clouds on the horizon have cleared a little. While the phrase “it ain’t over till it’s over” resonates in this context, there was encouraging news on January 22, when the US House of Representatives passed a bipartisan funding package that rejects proposed limitations on indirect costs, and increases NIH funding by $415 million (+0.89%). We are hopeful that any remaining hurdles in the legislative process will be resolved and that another government shutdown will be averted. We have been informed that a Notice of Award for the NCTN grant is forthcoming, and tentative dates have been communicated for the release of the NCORP grant RFA. Finally, although we have had major concerns regarding the millions of biospecimens banked from our clinical trials—currently supported by a Banking grant expiring March 1, 2026—an RFA is planned, and bridge funding to safeguard these critical samples is expected.

We are excited about what the new year will bring. Several new genomics-based trial programs are in development, and we will share details as they mature. Building on the surge of interest in real-world data trials seen in 2025, these efforts will be expanded and refined in the coming year. In addition, new approaches to trial design—highlighted at the Comis Translational Science Symposium last October—will be further developed, with the goal of expanding the ability to learn from patients treated off-study in addition to those enrolled in formal trials. We invite your participation in these projects as we work together to take our research in new directions and accomplish even more for our patients.

Read the January 2026 issue here.