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About the Academic Thoracic Oncology Medical Investigators Consortium (ATOMIC)

Collaboration & Innovation in Cancer Research

Dedicated to Research that Advances Thoracic and Lung Treatment

The Academic Thoracic Oncology Medical Investigators Consortium is an innovative research model that has brought together an expert team of institutions and investigators to design and rapidly complete clinical trials in thoracic and lung cancer with the ultimate goal of identifying new drugs to treat this disease.

What is ATOMIC?

ATOMIC stands for the Academic Thoracic Oncology Medical Investigators Consortium, an innovative and focused full service research model created to enhance the state of care for thoracic and lung cancer patients, with a goal of expediting the process of identifying and efficiently testing active new compounds for the treatment of these and related cancers. Our ability to rapidly design and execute focused clinical trials in these cancers will enhance our partner sponsors ability to make informed decisions on the development of their compounds. Ultimately, the Academic Thoracic Oncology Medical Investigators Consortium’s goal is to serve as an important model for speeding time-to-market for drugs targeting all thoracic and lung cancers.

The Consortium initiative originated from frustration over the lack of compounds currently on the market for cancers that could prove effective over the long term, and with the potential for targeting actual cancer-causing molecular events. The use of targeted agents presents opportunities that may reduce the problems associated with cytotoxic drugs that not only kill large numbers of cancer cells, but kill normal tissue as well, typically leading to severe side effects for cancer patients. The challenge was to create a new process for clinical trials that would be faster and more efficient, in order to expedite the identification and testing of targeted agents that are in development but still require evaluation for usefulness.

To that end we assembled the best possible team of institutions and investigators to assist in the design and rapid completion of Phase I and II clinical trials. These institutions were selected based upon criteria that included institutional commitment to a targeted cancer drug program, the Principal Investigator’s experience and expertise, and clinical research operations.

ATOMIC officially launched its kick-off meeting in July 2014. The Academic Thoracic Oncology Medical Investigators Consortium builds upon the complementary strengths of the member institutions selected for the Consortium.