NCCN Research & Business Resources
Research Boards and Committees
Scientific Advisory Boards (SAB): Highly distinguished scientific advisors in oncology representing the country’s top academic institutions serve as advisors on drug-specific scientific advisory boards.
RFP Development Teams (RFPDTs): Expert leaders from NCCN Member Institutions guide the development of Requests for Proposals (RFPs) in collaboration with industry.
Protocol Development Teams (PDT): Experts in specific scientific and clinical areas form teams that work with industry collaborators to design protocols and identify Study Chairs/Principal Investigator(s) to conduct studies.
Scientific Review Committees (SRC): Expert Scientific Review Committees (SRC) are established to conduct the peer review of research proposals received in response to RFP. The NCCN ORP SRC review process meets the general NIH standards of peer review and funding by meeting the following three criteria:
- the peer review system uses external reviewers and is free of conflict-of-interest
- the ranking or rating system in the review process is based on the scientific merit of the proposed research
- the funding system is based primarily on the peer review ranking or rating of the research application.
The NCCN ORP requires major reviews by two (2) members of the SRC with discussion and ranking of proposals by all members of the SRC. Grantor representatives serve in an advisory capacity to these committees and are given the opportunity to review each of the proposals prior to the formal review. Grantors may request elimination of particular proposals from scientific review if they duplicate already well-studied concepts or raise safety concerns.
Drug Development and Pipeline Review: Expert consultants from NCCN Member Institutions review the quality and relevance of scientific and technical data to guide drug development.