EORTC New Drug Advisory Committee (NDAC)

The New Drug Advisory Committee (NDAC) facilitates the introduction of new drugs into clinical trials within the EORTC. It is supported in the activity by EPOD (the Early Protocol Optimization Department) within the Headquarters. In order to ensure a consistent approach towards the pharmaceutical industry, NDAC is a reference body for all EORTC Groups as its role is to support and make recommendations to the Clinical Research Groups in all aspects of drug development. This includes the strategic approach and the setting of priorities regarding drug development within the entire EORTC Network, as well as being a recipient of information from disease groups at the earliest stage of their discussions of trials involving new agents.


Agents in the remit of the NDAC are those not yet registered. By working very closely with EPOD, NDAC’s continued mission is to stimulate, organise and prioritise access to new drugs. It has responsibility for benchmarking the choice of target/agent and/or company, taking advice from both the disease specific groups and EPOD. By being involved early in the life of a project, the expectation is that when such projects reach the Executive they have a high probability of successful review as they are already in alignment with the EORTC priorities.


The NDAC coordinates Advisory Boards organised for the pharmaceutical industry, stimulates interactions not only between drug developers and the EORTC Disease-oriented Groups and/or Laboratory Research Division Groups but also facilitates the creation of specific networks. Lastly, NDAC supports the EORTC Headquarters EPOD regarding methodological issues inherent to innovative agents with new mechanisms of action in the approach of early study design.

In December 2005, Group Liaison Officers were appointed in order to facilitate cooperation between NDAC and some specific EORTC Groups. This new form of cooperation has proven to greatly benefit the overall NDAC mission, and the input by Group Liaison Officers has been particularly fruitful in the evaluation of new agents and the review of study proposals.


Members

Chairman: D. Cameron, Edinburgh (GB)


A. Awada, Brussels (BE)
A. Burger, Freiburg (DE)
J. de Bono, Sutton (GB)
M. de Jonge, Rotterdam (NL)
E. Raymond, Clichy (FR)
J.C. Soria, Villejuif (FR)


Ex-Officio members:
I. Stratford, Manchester (GB)
D. Lacombe, Brussels (BE)
A. Passioukov, Brussels (BE)
L. Serfass, Brussels (BE)