Children’s Oncology Group

What Children’s Oncology Group does

Children's Oncology Group (COG) is a nonprofit pediatric cancer research network and the only National Cancer Institute (NCI) National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) Group devoted exclusively to childhood, adolescent, and young adult cancer research. Founded in 1955 and headquartered in Arcadia, California, COG operates through the Public Health Institute, which serves as its legal and fiscal agent. The network spans 220+ member institutions and engages more than 13,500 researchers, clinicians, and specialists worldwide, conducting multi-center clinical treatment trials, symptom management studies, survivorship research, and cancer care delivery studies. Core infrastructure includes Project:EveryChild, one of the largest biospecimen and clinical data repositories in pediatric oncology; the Pediatric Early Phase Clinical Trials Network (PEP-CTN); and the Molecular Characterization Initiative (launched 2022 with NCI), which provides whole-genome sequencing, RNA sequencing, and DNA methylation profiling integrated into the NCI Childhood Cancer Data Initiative (CCDI). Emerging technology includes the PeCAN-PI AI Analytics Platform, a Python-based toolkit being developed with the University of Virginia to apply AI and time-series algorithms to clinical trial data and patient-reported outcomes.

COG's revenue model is grant-funded rather than commercial: the organization does not sell products or services, instead receiving funding primarily through NCI/NIH National Clinical Trials Network awards, the PEP-CTN award, and complementary grants such as the $50 million ARPA-H Pediatric Care eXpansion (PCX) program. Its primary customer segments are (1) pediatric and adolescent cancer patients who gain access to clinical trials through member institutions, (2) member institution researchers and clinicians who rely on COG's collaborative infrastructure and biobank, and (3) the NCI and other federal research sponsors who fund and designate the network. Patient-facing resources include the COG Family Handbook and COG KidsCare App. The organization has contributed to a documented improvement in childhood cancer survival outcomes, though it operates in an environment where only 4% of cancer research resources are allocated to pediatric cancers.

Name

Children’s Oncology Group

Legal name

Children's Oncology Group

Website

https://childrensoncologygroup.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1955

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Children's Oncology Group is a nonprofit pediatric cancer research network and the only NCI National Clinical Trials Network Group devoted exclusively to childhood and adolescent cancer research, coordinating clinical trials across 220+ member institutions and 13,500+ researchers worldwide, funded primarily by NCI/NIH grants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Pediatric Cancer Clinical Research Services

NAICS

Medical and Diagnostic Laboratories (6215), Medical and Diagnostic Laboratories (62151)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Genomics & Molecular Diagnostics (Trial Support) (HLAGAEAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Global Health Research, Clinical Trials & Product Development Partnerships (PDPs) (HLAJAOAM), Clinical Research & Trial Central Laboratories (HLAFAMAL)

Keywords

• Pediatric cancer research
• Clinical trials network
• Childhood oncology studies
• Cancer biobanking
• Translational research

Headquarters

HQ city

Arcadia

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Government Research Grants: COG receives funding through National Cancer Institute (NCI) National Clinical Trials Network awards and operates the NCI-supported Pediatric Early Phase Clinical Trials Network (PEP-CTN). The Public Health Institute serves as COG's legal and fiscal agent.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

COG operates the world's largest pediatric cancer research network, coordinating multi-center clinical treatment trials, survivorship studies, symptom management research, and cancer care delivery studies across 220+ member institutions worldwide. Its portfolio includes Project:EveryChild (one of the largest biospecimen and clinical data repositories in pediatric oncology) and the NCI-supported Pediatric Early Phase Clinical Trials Network (PEP-CTN) for early-phase treatment evaluation.

Product overview

Children's Oncology Group (COG) operates as the world's largest pediatric cancer research network, conducting rigorously designed multi-center clinical treatment trials and survivorship studies. The portfolio includes the core COG Research Network spanning over 220 institutions, the PEP-CTN for early phase trials, Project:EveryChild as a major biospecimen and data repository, and patient-facing resources including the COG Family Handbook and COG KidsCare App. COG's network is the only NCI National Clinical Trials Network Group devoted exclusively to pediatric and adolescent/young adult cancer research.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Project:EveryChild: One of the largest repositories of biospecimens and clinical data in pediatric oncology, accelerating discovery by connecting data from children with cancer across COG's global network.
• Pediatric Early Phase Clinical Trials Network (PEP-CTN)

Products and services

• Children's Oncology Group (COG) Research Network The world's largest pediatric cancer research network, conducting rigorously designed multi-center clinical treatment trials, symptom management studies, survivorship research, and cancer care delivery studies across 220+ member institutions worldwide. Functions as the coordinating body for pediatric and adolescent/young adult cancer research under NCI National Clinical Trials Network awards.
• Project:EveryChild One of the largest repositories of biospecimens and clinical data in pediatric oncology. Connects data from children with cancer across COG's global network to help researchers understand each cancer's biology and develop more targeted treatments.
• Pediatric Early Phase Clinical Trials Network (PEP-CTN) NCI-supported network conducting early phase clinical trials to identify and evaluate new cancer treatments for children and adolescents. Operates as a dedicated component of COG's broader pediatric cancer research portfolio.

Quantifiable outcome

• Childhood cancer survival has dramatically improved through COG research

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• National Cancer Institute (NCI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCOG operates under NCI National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) awards and NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP). COG is the only NCTN Group devoted exclusively to pediatric and adolescent cancer research. COG also operates the NCI-supported Pediatric Early Phase Clinical Trials Network (PEP-CTN).
• Public Health InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Public Health Institute serves as COG's legal and fiscal agent, providing administrative infrastructure, facilities, and staffing support for the Network Group Operations Center and Network Statistics and Data Management Center.
• ARPA-H Pediatric Care eXpansion (PCX) ProgramflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerA $50 million initiative by ARPA-H to improve pediatric brain cancer treatment through expanded data sharing. The Children's Brain Tumor Network (CBTN) will leverage its research network and AI platform RADIANT to facilitate real-time health data access for clinicians.
• University of Virginia (UVA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPeCAN-PI (Pediatric Cancer Analytics Network Pathway to artificial Intelligence readiness) is building tools to integrate pediatric cancer patient data into the national Childhood Cancer Data Initiative (CCDI), creating open-access databases and Python-based AI tools.
• Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer CentercoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerA Phase 3 clinical trial (NCT06124157) run by COG and recruiting at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, testing blinatumomab immunotherapy combined with tyrosine kinase inhibitors for young patients with high-risk Ph+ or Ph-like B-ALL.
• National Cancer Institute's Childhood Cancer Data Initiative (CCDI)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Molecular Characterization Initiative (MCI), launched in 2022 in collaboration with COG, provides comprehensive genomic and molecular profiling to children with cancer. De-identified data is made available through the CCDI Data Ecosystem.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• NRG Oncology: One of the six NCI National Clinical Trials Network Groups, NRG Oncology runs multi-center clinical trials across multiple disease sites, making it the closest structural peer to COG among the NCTN groups, though it does not specialize in pediatric cancer.
• Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology: Fellow NCI NCTN Group operating as a multi-center cancer clinical trials network with similar funding structure, governance model, and statistical/data center operations to COG. Operates across adult cancers rather than pediatric.
• ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group: NCI NCTN Group running multi-institution clinical trials with comparable operational footprint to COG. Strategic peer given shared NCTN structure, biometric centers, and disease committee model, though focused on adult oncology.
• SWOG Cancer Research Network: NCI NCTN Group with overlapping multi-center trial network design, statistical center, and operations center model. Peer not by disease focus but by the structural similarity of network-based cooperative group oncology research.
• Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium: NCI-funded consortium conducting early-phase clinical trials for pediatric brain tumors. Closest functional peer to COG's PEP-CTN operations, sharing the same pediatric oncology focus, multi-center trial model, and NCI funding pathway.

Broad incumbents

• Children's Brain Tumor Network: Multi-institution pediatric brain tumor research consortium operating one of the largest biospecimen and data repositories in pediatric neuro-oncology. Directly comparable to COG's Project:EveryChild in both mission (pediatric cancer research) and infrastructure model.
• St. Baldrick's Foundation: Largest private funder of pediatric cancer research grants, funding COG and many other pediatric oncology research efforts. Comparable in mission scale and pediatric cancer focus, but operates as a funder rather than trial-network operator.

Others

• National Cancer Institute: Federal funding agency that designates COG as the pediatric NCTN Group and provides core grant funding via NCTN awards and PEP-CTN. Indirect peer given its role as funder and convener of the broader cooperative group system in which COG operates.
• CureSearch for Children's Cancer: Nonprofit accelerating pediatric cancer research through funding, advocacy, and collaboration. Comparable mission focus but functions as a funder/advocate rather than a clinical trial network operator like COG.

Regional players

• International Society of Paediatric Oncology: Global professional society for pediatric oncology covering Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa. Comparable in mission (advancing pediatric cancer research globally) but functions as scientific community builder, not a U.S.-anchored clinical trials network.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/cogorg
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/childrensoncologygroup

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Children’s Oncology Group