David B. Hinshaw

The American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG) was established to evaluate the surgical management of patients with malignant solid tumors. ACOSOG is one of 10 cooperative groups funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to develop and coordinate multi-institutional clinical trials. ACOSOG is the only cooperative group with studies focusing primarily on surgical objectives. ACOSOG currently has treatment protocols available in three major disease areas: . Breast Cancer . Gastrointestinal Cancer . Thoracic Cancer ACOSOG is composed of the Operations and Membership Center located at the Duke Clinical Research Institute on the Duke University Medical Center campus and the Statistics and Data Center located at the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center. ACOSOG's membership is comprised of investigators and research associates representing oncology treatment modalities and research-related concerns, including surgery, medical oncology, radiation oncology, diagnostic imaging, pathology, ethics, CRA/nursing and patient advocacy.

American Surgical Association Operates as a surgical organization. The company was founded in 1880 and is headquartered in Beverly, MA.

Encore Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (EPI) is a drug discovery and development company with advanced proprietary products for the treatment and prevention of cancer and neurologic and cardiovascular diseases. EPI's principal drug innovations have come from discoveries made by researchers at Loma Linda University Medical Center (LLUMC). EPI was founded in 1997 and concluded a technology transfer license agreement with LLUMC in January 1999. The discovery operation continues to be located in the LLUMC environment where operations in 1999 were expanded to include clinical development of EPI's lead drug candidate E-7869 (now known as MPC-7869) for treatment of prostate and colon cancer. The company's research efforts have also led to the discovery of a -tocopherol (member of the Vitamin E family) metabolite designated as E-8110 (also known as LLU- ) and bioanalogs which have natriuretic (sodium excretion) activity. These compounds are being examined for their anti-hypertensive, anti-oxidant and anti-cancer properties. Patent applications for EPI drug discoveries have been filed and are in review worldwide