The PPD clinical research business of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has been awarded a 10-year contract by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), according to a news release Thursday.

The Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract supports NCI’s Cancer Trials Support Unit (CTSU).

As part of the award, the PPD clinical research business "will have the opportunity to coordinate the resources and processes necessary to identify, deploy, support and maintain a platform for the collection and migration of electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePROs) and other patient-generated health data into NCI Multi-Center Organization (MCO) clinical trials supported by CTSU," the release stated.

Thermo Fisher’s PPD clinical research business has three decades of experience delivering clinical research services to governmental agencies, contractors and nonprofits in conducting therapeutic, vaccine and medical device studies on a global scale across all trial phases and a broad array of therapeutic areas, the release stated.

“NCI’s focus on progressing cancer research across the nation is one we all support, to advance scientific knowledge and to help all people live longer, healthier lives,” said David M. Johnston, senior vice president and president of clinical research for Thermo Fisher Scientific, in the release. “The research that NCI champions is vital to improving the outcomes of patients battling this group of diseases. We are privileged to support NCI in those efforts.”

Cancer is among the leading causes of death worldwide, according to the release.

"In 2022, NCI estimates there will be more than 1.9 million new cases of cancer and more than 600,000 cancer deaths in the United States. Globally, the World Health Organization notes that nearly one in every six deaths can be attributed to cancer, with approximately 400,000 children developing cancer every year," the release stated.

The business’ team of experts providing PPD Digital and Decentralized solutions "works closely with leading research organizations around the world to navigate evolving trends in drug development, including the design and deployment of customized, remote clinical trials," according to the release, which also stated that the business "employs innovative electronic clinical outcome assessment (eCOA) technologies to enable sites, patients and customers to share data more effectively than traditional methods. In addition, eCOAs and ePROs use digital platforms to enable direct data collection from study stakeholders, resulting in less paper documentation and more timely data, with greater consistency from patients."

PPD has conducted more than 675 oncology and hematology studies in the past five years involving more than 114,000 patients at over 26,000 sites around the world.

"Those trials represent more than one-quarter of the studies the business has conducted in that time. The business’ team of experts providing PPD laboratory services helped develop 24 of the top 25 best-selling oncology drugs of 2020," the release stated.

This project will be funded in whole with federal funds from the NCI, National Institutes of Health and Department of Health and Human Services under Contract No. 75N91022D00012.