The University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center and Eli Lilly and Company have launched a two-year partnership aimed at expanding patient access to cancer clinical trials, including studies testing investigational therapies that are not yet available through routine medical care. The collaboration is designed to move beyond the traditional sponsor-site model, in which pharmaceutical companies and medical centers typically coordinate around individual studies. Instead, the organizations will work through a broader, long-term framework focused on opening trials more efficiently, improving patient access and strengthening the research experience for participants and clinical teams.
The partnership will establish dedicated project management, regular communication and shared learning opportunities between the cancer center and Lilly. These measures are intended to reduce operational delays that can prevent eligible patients from reaching clinical trials in time. Before a study opens, research teams must complete regulatory reviews, activate clinical sites, train staff, establish laboratory and imaging procedures, and create systems for collecting and monitoring patient data. By coordinating these processes across institutions, the partners hope to make trials available faster and create a more consistent experience for patients, investigators and sponsors.
Clinical trials are structured studies that evaluate how medical interventions perform in people. Depending on their design and phase, they may investigate a new drug, a new combination of established medicines, a device, a vaccine or a different way of delivering an existing treatment. Early-phase studies generally focus on safety, dosing and how the body processes a therapy, while later-stage studies examine effectiveness and compare an investigational treatment with existing standards of care. Phase 3 trials are particularly important because they often enroll larger populations and generate the evidence needed for regulatory decisions and changes in clinical practice.
For people with cancer, participation in a trial can provide access to a potential therapy before it becomes widely available. Trial participants also receive structured monitoring, which may include frequent physical examinations, laboratory testing, imaging and assessments by multiple specialists. This intensive follow-up is not a guarantee of benefit, and investigational treatments can carry unknown or serious risks. However, the information gathered from participants can help researchers determine whether a therapy is safe, identify which patients are most likely to respond and understand side effects that may not be visible in smaller studies.
The partnership also reflects the growing importance of biomarker-driven oncology. Many modern cancer trials select patients according to molecular characteristics found in a tumor or through blood-based testing. Biomarkers may include gene mutations, protein expression patterns, DNA repair abnormalities or other biological signals associated with treatment response. This approach, sometimes called precision oncology, attempts to match a therapy to the mechanisms driving an individual cancer rather than relying only on the tumor’s location in the body. As a result, patients may be considered for trials based on the biology of their disease, even when the treatment is still experimental.
Despite the expanding scientific potential of cancer research, only a small proportion of patients enroll in clinical trials. A study published in 2024 estimated that approximately 7 percent of people with cancer in the United States participate in a trial. Barriers include limited awareness, strict eligibility requirements, travel distance, transportation costs, competing medical conditions, language differences and the practical burden of repeated appointments. Some patients and families may also assume that clinical trials are a last resort, although many studies evaluate investigational therapies alongside standard treatment or earlier in the course of disease.
The University of Chicago Medicine and Lilly intend to address some of these obstacles by expanding research opportunities across the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center’s growing network in the Chicago metropolitan area and Northwest Indiana. Locating trials closer to where patients live and receive care may reduce travel demands and make participation more realistic for people who cannot repeatedly visit a distant academic center. Earlier conversations between physicians and patients about trial eligibility could also help ensure that research is considered at multiple points during treatment rather than only after standard options have been exhausted.
A major future site in this network will be the 575,000-square-foot UChicago Medicine AbbVie Foundation Cancer Pavilion, scheduled to open in Hyde Park in April 2027. Described as Illinois’ first freestanding cancer facility, the pavilion will include dedicated clinical trial areas intended to streamline research operations and patient access. Purpose-built space can support specialized procedures, investigational drug handling, sample collection, imaging coordination and the secure management of clinical data. These capabilities are increasingly important as cancer studies require more complex molecular testing, repeated biopsies and detailed tracking of treatment response.
The partnership, which began in February 2026, will be guided by shared performance goals and quarterly reviews. The organizations plan to measure progress in areas such as the speed at which trials become active and the number of patients who can access and enroll in them. University of Chicago Medicine leaders describe the arrangement as a more integrated relationship built on defined priorities, measurable outcomes and continuous collaboration. Lilly executives have emphasized that the medicines used in oncology today were developed because patients and physicians participated in clinical research, particularly large studies that compared promising treatments with established standards of care. By combining pharmaceutical development expertise with an academic cancer center’s clinical infrastructure, the collaboration seeks to make participation in that process available to more people diagnosed with cancer.
Subject of Research: Expansion of patient access to cancer clinical trials and investigational oncology therapies through a partnership between the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center and Eli Lilly and Company.
Article Title: University of Chicago Medicine and Lilly Partner to Expand Access to Cancer Clinical Trials
Web References:
https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/cancer
https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/cancer/research
https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/cancer/new-cancer-center
https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/find-a-physician/physician/russell-szmulewitz
References:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38564681/
Keywords: Cancer clinical trials, oncology, clinical research, investigational therapies, precision oncology, biomarkers, University of Chicago Medicine, Eli Lilly, cancer treatment, Phase 3 trials, patient access, clinical trial enrollment
