ICORG was featured in this Irish Times article (30-Mar-2012) which explains how much cancer research has advanced and is continuing to do so in Ireland.
‘’Ireland punches above its weight in cancer terms because of the All-Ireland Cooperative Oncology Research Group (ICORG). The group was set up in 1996 by Prof John Crown among others.”
‘’It is unique in the world that it can draw on every Irish cancer patient who is eligible for drugs trials. There are approximately 7,500 such patients, and almost every oncologist in Ireland is signed up to it. Irish patients were among the first to get Gleevec and Herceptin. They are also getting Crizotinib – and 60 per cent of the patients are still alive two years later.’’
“Irish patients are getting drugs such as Gleevec years before they would normally be made available because of ICORG,” says Prof Crown. “There are a lot of people alive who got medicines through ICORG who would be dead otherwise.”
For the full article, please click Read more.