At NEXT Oncology, Dr. Tolcher has spent his career accelerating first-in-human cancer research. His perspective on what truly moves the field forward is simple. Work as one team. Remove friction. Meet patients where they are. The Precision Site Network is built to do exactly that.
Why Phase 1, and why it matters now
Dr. Tolcher did not set out to become a phase I medical oncologist. Mentorship drew him there. Early in his training, advisors pressed him to consider drug development because that is where the impact would be greatest. Those formative years spanned the National Cancer Institute, where he worked under leaders who were shaping the field long before targeted therapy and modern immuno-oncology. That experience set his path and, eventually, his founding and leadership at NEXT Oncology.
The science has changed dramatically along the way. For Dr. Tolcher, the arrival of molecularly targeted therapies was a turning point. EGFR-targeting agents provided a first glimpse of precision in action. Patients with specific biology could experience dramatic responses to selective inhibitors, signaling a new era after decades dominated by cytotoxic chemotherapy.
Then immunotherapy reshaped expectations. The advent of PD1 inhibitors, including pembrolizumab, turned durable responses and even functional cures into real possibilities for some patients with advanced disease. For a clinician embedded in phase I research, watching those long-lasting remissions arrive after years of intermittent progress was, in his words, “the ultimate experience” of his career.
A partner mindset that actually delivers
Developing the next generation of therapies demands more than scientific insight. It requires operational trust. Dr. Tolcher stresses that the fastest path to better drugs is to act like a single, aligned team across sites, CROs, and sponsors. “We are all on the same side,” he notes. And his goals are straightforward:
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See patients
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Offer access to innovative trials
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Capture high-quality data
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Move that data efficiently to sponsors
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Reach regulatory endpoints without unnecessary detours
That philosophy underpins his praise for partners who treat the relationship as a true collaboration. "Working with Precision has felt like rowing in the same direction," he says. Mutual respect, clear roles, and shared urgency create better studies and better outcomes. In his experience, that is not universal across the industry. When it is present, efficiency improves, investigators stay engaged, and sponsors get the quality they expect.
Removing the “paper cuts” that slow trials
Speed does not come from cutting corners. It comes from cutting friction. At NEXT Oncology, the team has focused on two practical levers. Faster contracting and faster regulatory approvals. Those are the choke points that often determine when a patient can be enrolled.
Equally important is the discipline to eliminate repetitive tasks that add little value. Dr. Tolcher points to processes that too often reset from zero, even when a site has recently worked with the same sponsor or CRO. Do you really need another pre-site visit to re-catalog the refrigerators? Does every team member need to retake the same EDC or Veeva Vault training after completing it for another study a few weeks earlier? These are the small cuts that drain time and attention. “Too many paper cuts and you will bleed to death,” he says. The remedy is to decide what should be done once, what should be refreshed periodically, and what can be retired.
When partners help minimize that burden, investigators spend more time being investigators. Patients get on study faster. Data move cleanly through the system. Everyone benefits.
Why access is the strategy
For Dr. Tolcher, access is personal. His father was diagnosed with lung cancer when Dr. Tolcher was a teenager. The family pursued a then-experimental course of treatment because it offered the best chance to extend time together. That experience informs his empathy for patients who arrive at phase I centers today. Many have exhausted standard options. The right first-in-human trial can be a crucial next step.
Scaling that access means meeting patients where they are. In the United States, most cancer care happens outside of major academic centers. Dr. Tolcher emphasizes that roughly 85 percent of patients receive care in community oncology practices or community hospitals. "It does not make sense to ask those patients to travel long distances for every clinical trial opportunity. The better answer is to bring the right trials to the communities where they live."
NEXT Oncology’s experience in San Antonio underscores the point. Even in the shadow of a world-renowned tertiary center, their site has thrived by expanding access close to home. The lesson applies across the country. When community sites can open high-quality studies quickly, enrollment accelerates and patients benefit without uprooting their lives.
What great partnership looks like in practice
True collaboration is easy to spot. It respects the expertise at each node of the network. It values speed that does not compromise quality. It treats data flow as a shared responsibility and a shared advantage. Dr. Tolcher highlights one metric that captures whether the relationship is working. Repeat business from pharma and biotech sponsors. If teams deliver, sponsors return with their next precious molecule. That simple signal validates the trust that a program has earned.
Inside that partnership, the roles are clear. Sites focus on rapid startup, rigorous patient care, and clean data. CROs streamline oversight and remove duplicative steps. Sponsors get actionable information on time. Everyone moves faster toward decisions that matter.
The Precision Site Network advantage
The Precision Site Network brings this model to life. It unites experienced investigators and high-performing sites that can start studies quickly, enroll the right patients, and maintain quality across diverse settings. Dr. Tolcher describes the relationship a Precision as both productive and trusted. He would recommend the network to other sites, including those that compete with his own, because stronger networks raise the standard for everyone. The result is faster studies, higher-quality data, and more opportunities for patients to access promising therapies where they receive care.
It is also a reminder of what really matters. “The enemy is cancer,” he says. Not the sponsor. Not the CRO. Not the site across town. When partners align around that truth, the work feels different. Momentum builds. And the next wave of therapies reaches the people who need them most.
Accelerate your early phase oncology research in the communities where patients receive care.
About Dr. Anthony William Tolcher
Dr. Tolcher leads clinical research at NEXT Oncology and has devoted his career to first-in-human and early-phase oncology trials. His work spans the evolution from chemotherapy to targeted therapy to immunotherapy, with a focus on pragmatic collaboration that accelerates patient access to innovation.
