Cancer Prevention Month – FORTE Update – February 2026

02/17/2026

FORTE Enrollment Milestone: 4000 Participants!

FORTE is quickly racing toward 50% enrollment, accruing over 4,000 participants by the beginning of February 2026. As the study team continues to welcome new sites, explore activating and increasing accrual to NRG-CC005. Activation materials can be found on CTSU, under NRG-CC005.

NRG 2026 Winter Meeting

Dr. Schoen, FORTE Protocol Chair, presented a FORTE update at the NRG Oncology Winter Meeting in San Francisco. During “FORTE Remains FUERTE,” we celebrated achieving 40% of the total accrual in December 2025, along with the upcoming 4000-participant enrollment milestone. He highlighted steady monthly enrollment of over 130 participants and the 35 new sites that activated in 2025. Additionally, new initiatives that have contributed significantly to FORTE include concerted efforts to activate and accrue through VA sites, along with the initiation of mobile phlebotomy. A baseline paper, titled “Five- or Ten-year colonoscopy for 1–2 non-advanced adenomatous polyps (FORTE): Rationale, development, design, and implementation,” has been submitted for review. Lastly, in 2026, the study team plans to focus on colonoscopy compliance to monitor the impact of unscheduled procedures on the trial.

The study team is also excited to see many FORTE sites among the top accruing main members and top accruing NCORP sites to NRG Oncology trials last year. Many of the top sites achieved high accrual numbers due, in large part, to high enrollment to NRG-CC005.

FORTE Site Call – March 12, 2026 – Protocol Compliance

Join the quarterly FORTE site calls to hear updates on NRG-CC005 and discuss challenges and solutions with other research professionals working to enroll patients to this clinical trial. Registration for these virtual sessions are in these monthly FORTE Fridays broadcasts.

To kick off Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, the next FORTE Site Call will be on March 12, 2026. FORTE Protocol Chair, Dr. Robert Schoen, will discuss protocol compliance.

NRG Patient Reported Outcomes (PRO) Compliance Officer, Marcie Ritter, presented on compliance at the last FORTE Site Call. Watch the recording on the FORTE | Research Professionals playlist.

Accrual Updates and Milestones (as of February 2, 2026)

Top accruing sites: 

• Kaiser Permanente – Vallejo – 2014 accrued
• UPMC-Presbyterian Hospital – 358 accrued
• Regions Hospital – 168 accrued

Most recent randomizations:  

• Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center – February 2, 2026
• Kaiser Permanente-Anaheim – January 30, 2026
• Kaiser Permanente-Vallejo – January 30, 2026
• UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital – January 30, 2026
• Centro Comprensivo de Cancer de UPR – January 30, 2026

FORTE Top 25 Accruing Sites – February 2, 2026

FORTE Resources Portal

Bookmark this website, that organizes materials found on CTSU: https://www.nrgoncology.org/Clinical-Trials/NRG-CC005/FORTE-Resource-Portal. You will use the same login information as for CTSU to access this page. Once you gain access, the “FORTE Materials for Research Professionals” section contains many materials to assist you with accruing participants. This website also has contact information for questions you may have while working on NRG-CC005.

Find both CIRB-approved and protocol-related documents on CTSU under NRG-CC005.

Do you have new research team members working on NRG-CC005?

Clinical research professionals can sign up for NRG Weekly Broadcasts to receive FORTE Fridays updates directly to your inbox: https://www.nrgoncology.org/Home/News/Weekly-Broadcasts.

Questions from Site Research Staff

If research staff have questions about a patient’s eligibility or study logistics for the NRG-CC005/FORTE Study, contact the Clinical Coordinating Department (CCD) at:

FORTE@nrgoncology.org

1(800) 477-7227