E-News - September 2026
Alliance Trial Update

Alliance Webinar Showcases Latest Cancer Research from 2026 ASCO Meeting
Public October 1 event will feature key treatment advances impacting people with breast, lung and prostate cancers

September 17, 2026 – New research is changing what we know about breast, lung, and prostate cancers. On Thursday, October 1, the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology will host a public webinar highlighting key findings from Alliance and Alliance Foundation Trials (AFT) studies presented at the 2026 American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting.

“We are excited to showcase the high-profile research findings that several Alliance researchers presented at the 2026 ASCO Meeting,” said Evanthia Galanis, MD, DSc, Group Chair of the Alliance and Sandra J. Schulze Professor of Novel Therapeutics and Professor of Oncology at the Mayo Clinic. “Supported by funding from the National Cancer Institute and with the momentum from our industry collaborations, we’re able to advance discoveries and make meaningful improvements in cancer care for the benefit of patients everywhere.”

“Clinical trials conducted by Alliance researchers have meaningfully shaped cancer care, often resulting in new standards of care and FDA approval of new treatments,” said Olwen Hahn, MD, Director and Principal Investigator of the Alliance Central Protocol Operations Program and an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center. “During this 60-minute webinar, our panel of investigators will explain how the latest research results are impacting cancer care. We are also proud to have patient representatives join our webinar to help explain the significance of the findings for people living with cancer and their loved ones.”

Panelists include:

  • Jennifer Ligibel, MD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Dr. Ligibel will present results from Alliance A011401/Breast Cancer Weight Loss Study (BWEL), including her oral abstract on how a weight loss intervention affected quality of life and symptoms in women with breast cancer.
    • Abstract title: Effect of a weight loss intervention (WLI) on quality of life (QOL) and symptoms in women with breast cancer: Results from the Breast Cancer Weight Loss (BWEL) trial.
  • Ramaswamy Govindan, MD, WashU Medicine: Dr. Govindan will discuss results from Alliance A081105, including his oral presentation on the trial’s final overall survival results. The study evaluated whether adding the targeted cancer therapy erlotinib to observation could improve outcomes for people with non-small cell lung cancer after surgical removal of their tumors.
    • Abstract title: Adjuvant erlotinib versus observation after complete resection of EGFR-mutant NSCLC: Final overall survival results of Alliance A081105
  • Elizabeth Wulff, MD, University of Kansas Medical Center: Dr. Wulff will present the findings of AFT47/ARACOG, including her oral abstract comparing the cognitive effects of the hormone therapies darolutamide and enzalutamide in men with advanced prostate cancer.
    • Abstract title: Cognitive effects of darolutamide vs enzalutamide: Results of ARACOG (AFT-47), a randomized clinical trial from the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology
  • Stephanie Berg, DO, Dana-Farber Cancer Center: Dr. Berg will discuss the findings of Alliance A032101/A-DREAM Phase III trial and her presentation evaluating whether some men with advanced prostate cancer can safely take a break from hormone therapy.
    • Abstract title: A phase 2 trial of androgen deprivation therapy interruption in patients responding exceptionally to androgen receptor pathway inhibitor in metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (A-DREAM / Alliance A032101)

In addition to the investigators, patient representatives from the Patient Alliance Committee will join the panel to comment specifically on the importance of each trial and provide insight into the patient’s perspective.

The webinar is free and open to the public. Registration is now open.

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Alliance Foundation Trials, LLC, is a research organization that develops and conducts cancer clinical trials, working closely with the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology scientific investigators and institutional member network, research collaborators, and non-NCI funding sources. AFT seeks to fulfill the vision of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology to reduce the impact of cancer on people by uniting a broad community of scientists and clinicians from many disciplines committed to discovering, validating and disseminating effective strategies for the prevention and treatment of cancer. Current AFT studies are funded by industry collaborators and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).

The Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology is a national leader in advancing cancer research, uniting more than 26,000 cancer specialists at 112 main institutions and 1,400 affiliates across the U.S. and Canada. As part of the National Clinical Trials Network and a leading research base for the NCI Community Oncology Research Program, the Alliance conducts pioneering, practice-changing clinical trials that improve outcomes and reshape standards of care. Our work has led to multiple FDA approvals, influenced national guidelines, and produced hundreds of high-impact publications. More than 40,000 participants have taken part in Alliance studies, and our growing biospecimen repository now includes more than 1.5 million samples, collected over the past 30 years. Learn more at AllianceforClinicalTrialsinOncology.org.