ETOP IBCSG Partners Foundation

The International Breast Cancer Study Group began in 1977 as the Ludwig Breast Cancer Study Group and has run academic breast cancer trials for almost fifty years, including SOFT and TEXT (ovarian function suppression in premenopausal women), the POSITIVE study of pausing endocrine therapy to attempt pregnancy, and the early HER2-positive and elderly trials. ETOP was founded in 2009 to run academic thoracic oncology trials across Europe, including BEAT-meso in mesothelioma and the SPLENDOUR and ETOP Lungscape biomarker programmes. In 2022 the two merged into the ETOP IBCSG Partners Foundation, sharing a coordinating centre in Bern and a statistical centre. Both arms partner with the Breast International Group, Breast Cancer Trials and the US cooperative groups.