CAC2 Childhood Cancer Community News Digest (June 13-19)

Assorted News from Last Week:

The Coalition Against Childhood Cancer is pleased to announce the 2022 Annual Summit hosted by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and presented by Day One Biopharmaceuticals.  This annual event reflects the CAC2 values and mission by providing top-notch educational programming, designing multiple opportunities for members to connect and engage, and showcasing the ongoing work of our members who are working for a future without childhood cancers.

On the basis of extensive experience in recent years, most notably with mAbs, persisting with administering myeloablative chemotherapy as the standard to treat children with high risk neuroblastoma is not consistent with the overall aim in pediatric oncology of achieving cure with as little toxicity as possible.

A discussion of the accelerated pathway to drug approval based on FDA and EMA practices.

Long-term follow-up from the phase 2 ELIANA trial (NCT02435849), showed that tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah) continued to demonstrate durable efficacy in heavily pretreated pediatric and young adult patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL).

The addition of bortezomib to chemotherapy significantly improved survival outcomes among children and young adults with T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma, according to phase 3 study results published in Journal of Clinical Oncology.  Additionally, radiation can be eliminated in 90% of children with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia with the intensified chemotherapy regimen, researchers noted.

Knowledge deficits rather than financial reasons were the reported cause of the lack of follow-up care were the primary predictors of poor adherence to follow up care for pediatric cancer survivors..

Upcoming Webinars, Online Opportunities, and Meetings:

Children’s Cancer Cause is hosting a virtual externally-led Patient-Focused Drug Development (PFDD) meeting on Reducing Cardiac Late Effects in Pediatric Cancer Survivors, on September 15, 2022. The conference is an opportunity for survivors and caregivers to educate representatives of the FDA, academic researchers, and pharmaceutical companies about their personal experiences managing the impact of cardiac late effects on daily living and long-term health.  Registration link.

Recordings of Recent Past Events:

CAC2 member Mark Levine hosts a podcast called, “Help and Hope Happen Here” (available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts). Access recent podcasts with CAC2 Members (and visit Help and Hope Happen Here for interviews with other CAC2 members and thought leaders from around the community):

• Lorna Day  (Sam Day Foundation)
• Mandy Spielvogle Powell and Steve Pessagno (Coalition Against Childhood Cancer)

Take Action:

Children’s Cancer Cause has established an annual award, the Survivorship Champion’s Prize, to be presented to a group, program or institution making significant advances in programs and services to provide life-long health maintenance for survivors of pediatric cancers.  These awards recognize the importance of the unique challenges associated with the post-treatment services for survivors, especially as they transition to non-oncology adolescent and/or adult health care services.  This year, there are awards in two categories (click here for more information and to apply):

• Champion’s Prize Award: $10,000
• Recognition Awards for 1) Program Impact; 2) Collaboration; and 3) Scalability: $5,000 each

During June, on Childhood Cancer International social media wants to share stories, testimonials and activities regarding childhood cancer survivorship. If you have content that would like to share with us please send it to .