The Impact of COVID-19 on National Clinical Trials Network Breast Cancer Trials

Purpose of review The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on virtually all aspects of the healthcare system, including oncology clinical trials. The purpose of this review is to describe the impact of the pandemic on national breast cancer clinical trials. Recent findings Of the 61 breast cancer-specific cooperative group breast cancer clinical trials open to accrual during the pandemic, 32% of them received supplementary tailored guidance regarding current and foreseeable challenges for clinical sites and investigators due to COVID-19. Many clinical trial sites reported decreases in enrollment and accrual, drastic disruptions to protocol, and challenges related to research infrastructure, staff burden, and assuring social distancing. The challenges early in pandemic led to many operational changes in clinical trials, including use of electronic consent for enrollment, telemedicine visits, and mail order pharmacy. The pandemic highlighted aspects of breast cancer clinical trial that could be modernized while maintaining research integrity.