# Comparative Oncology Trials Consortium

Source: https://onco.cc/institutions/comparative-oncology-trials-consortium/  
OnCo record `comparative-oncology-trials-consortium` (Institution). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

A network run by the US National Cancer Institute in which veterinary schools test new cancer drugs in pet dogs with naturally occurring cancer, with their owners' consent, to help plan the first trials in people.

## Summary

The Comparative Oncology Trials Consortium was launched through the Comparative Oncology Program of the intramural NCI Center for Cancer Research. As described by Gordon, Paoloni, Mazcko and Khanna (PLoS Medicine 2009), it operates as a collaboration between the NCI and extramural academic comparative oncology centres, designing and running clinical trials in dogs with cancer with pharmaceutical companies and other groups developing cancer drugs. The NCI supports its oversight and management, and trial sponsors, most often pharmaceutical companies, pay the clinical costs at the academic centres. Its trials include pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic endpoints meant to inform the design of early human trials, supported by a COTC pharmacodynamic core. At the time of that paper its member institutions were 18 veterinary academic centres in the United States. Coordinates are those of the Bethesda campus city centre.

## Fields

- Kind: Institution
- Last checked: 2026-11-04
- Also known as: COTC
- Tags: veterinary; comparative-oncology
- City: Bethesda, MD, US
- Type: consortium

## Sources

- Gordon et al. 2009, PLoS Medicine: The Comparative Oncology Trials Consortium: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000161
- NCI Comparative Oncology Program: https://ccr.cancer.gov/comparative-oncology-program

## Connected records

- ideas: [Pet dogs with spontaneous cancer as a bridge before human trials](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-bio1-comparative-oncology-dogs/)
- journals: [Veterinary and comparative oncology](https://onco.cc/journals/veterinary-and-comparative-oncology/)
- institutions: [National Cancer Institute (NIH)](https://onco.cc/institutions/nci/)

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