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. 2025 Nov 10:85:104642.
doi: 10.1016/j.breast.2025.104642. Online ahead of print.

The Breast International Group (BIG) Patient Partnership: Embedding meaningful patient involvement in the design and conduct of breast cancer clinical research

Carmela Caballero  1 , Virginie Adam  2 , Orsolya Birta  2 , Lydie Meheus  3 , Judy Needham  4 , Christine Hodgdon  5 , Leslie Gilhams  6 , Concepcion Biurrun  7 , Mairead MacKenzie  8 , Tanja Spanic  9 , Hilary Stobart  8 , Lynda Belhadi  10 , Julia Maués  5 , Ana Casas  11 , Eva Schumacher-Wulf  12 , Carolyn Straehle  2 , Seamus O'Reilly  13 , David Cameron  14 , Martine Piccart  15 , Judith Bliss  16 , Boon Chua  17
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Free article

The Breast International Group (BIG) Patient Partnership: Embedding meaningful patient involvement in the design and conduct of breast cancer clinical research

Carmela Caballero et al. Breast. .
Free article

Abstract

Involving those with a lived experience of the relevant condition in the design of clinical research ensures that studies address real-world needs and priorities, enabling more relevant, ethical, and impactful outcomes. In 2019, the Breast International Group (BIG) established the BIG Patient Partnership to facilitate the meaningful involvement of people affected by breast cancer in the design and conduct of its studies. The members provide a strong international patient voice in academic breast cancer research. The partnership is based on 4 pillars: foundational and ongoing training, meaningful and systematic involvement, patients as a strategic driving force in BIG's research, and promoting the value of the patients' voice in research. In this paper, we describe a model to enable performing transnational clinical research for and with patient partners. We hope to inspire organizations and people who are burdened by cancer from different cultural backgrounds to develop an interactive, engaging, and empowering process for researchers and patient partners to work together.

Keywords: Breast cancer research; Clinical research; Patient advocacy; Patient involvement.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Carmela Caballero, Virginie Adam, Orsolya Birta, and Carolyn Straehle report relationships with AstraZeneca, Roche/Genentech, Novartis, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, and Sanofi/Aventis that includes: funding grants to their institution. Carmela Caballero reports a relationship with European Society of Surgical Oncology that includes: board membership (2022-2024). CONCEPCION BIURRUN reports a relationship with BIG that includes: non-financial support. I AM A PATIENT ADVOCATE. Mairead MacKenzie reports relationship with Independent Cancer Patients’ Voice. Seamus O'Reilly reports financial support was provided by Health Research Board. Seamus O'Reilly reports financial support was provided by Irish Cancer Society. Seamus O'Reilly reports a relationship with Astra Zeneca, Novartis, Daichi Sankyo, Merck & Co Inc: travel reimbursement. No additional relationships to disclose. Judith Bliss reports a relationship with Astra Zeneca, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Puma Biotechnology, Pfizer, Janssen-Cilag, Novartis, Eli Lilly, Breast Cancer Now, Breast International Group, Glaxo Smith Kline, Kortuc, NIHR, and with Verastem that includes: funding grants. David Cameron reports financial support was provided by The University of Edinburgh. David Cameron reports a relationship with The University of Edinburgh that includes: employment. David Cameron has no patent pending. Martine Piccart reports a relationship with Oncolytics that includes: board membership. Martine Piccart reports a relationship with AstraZeneca, Gilead Sciences Inc, Eli Lilly and Company Menarini, Novartis, Pfizer, and with Roche that includes: consulting or advisory and funding grants. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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