CAC2 Childhood Cancer Community News Digest (May 29-June 4)

A paper explaining NCI’s Childhood Cancer Data Initiative’s (CCDI) accomplishments to date and discussing priorities for the future of the initiative was published last week in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

NCI has also launched a large precision medicine cancer initiative to test the effectiveness of treating adults and children with new drug combinations that target specific tumor alterations. Known as the Combination Therapy Platform Trial with Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice (ComboMATCH), the initiative is the largest of its kind to test combinations of cancer drugs guided by tumor biology.

CAC2 Supporting Organization and Presenting Summit Sponsor Day One Biopharmaceutical’s CEO Jeremy Bender discusses his company’s mission to create effective treatments for children suffering with life threatening cancer.

Researchers have partnered to create a first-of-its-kind open-source, reproducible analysis platform for pediatric brain tumors. With the help of thousands of genomically sequenced samples, researchers have used this platform to identify initial findings about genetic variants associated with poorer outcomes that could help guide future diagnostic and therapeutic advances.

From the ASCO Meeting:

• “A few miles can mean a life or death difference to children with cancer, if those miles cross a national border. ‘Twinning programs’ helped to reduce survival disparities in childhood acute leukemia between high-income and lower-income countries.”
• Researchers have used a geriatric rating scale to show that childhood cancer survivors experience accelerated aging and have a higher risk of premature death than the general population.
• Survivors of high-risk neuroblastoma face a substantial burden of late toxicity.

A functional precision medicine-guided approach appeared to increase PFS among a small cohort of pediatric patients with recurrent and/or refractory solid and hematologic cancers.

Blinatumomab significantly improved DFS and OS for the two thirds of children, adolescent, and young adult patients with B-ALL with BM ± EM relapse studied, establishing a new standard of care for this population.

Virtual reality cancer support groups for teens: What parents should know

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) led a bipartisan resolution designating May 17, 2023 as “DIPG Pediatric Brain Cancer Awareness Day” to raise awareness of, and encourage research on DIPG tumors and pediatric cancer.

Research has largely overlooked the approximately 480 000 childhood cancer survivors in the United States who potentially face decades more of indirect costs related to their childhood cancer than do adult cancer survivors (eg, through decreased wages or lost opportunities because of a longer period of disability or morbidity). Interventions for the financial toxicity of cancer have not been implemented widely. (gated)

Join us at the CAC2 2023 Annual Summit, presented by Day One Biopharmaceuticals! This year’s conference takes place from noon, Monday, June 19 through 2:00 pm, Wednesday, June 21, 2023, in Atlanta, GA, at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Emory University.  Click here for more information and to register.

Triage Cancer will present a webinar: Cancer & Disability Insurance on June 21, 2023, 11:30-1:00 ET.  This webinar will explore potential disability insurance options for those that need to take time off work after a cancer diagnosis (including options for caregivers). Click here for more information and to register.

MIB Agents Osteosarcoma Alliance FACTOR 2023 Conference brings together the leading osteosarcoma researchers and clinicians, along with patient families and OsteoWarriors (survivors, patients and siblings of OsteoWarriors and OsteoAngels) to Make It Better for those battling this disease.  Click here for more information.

Give Kids the World Summer Road Trip! From June 17-26, GKTW visit 10 amusement parks and offer a day of fun for our incredible Alumni families for free.  Summer Road Trip info can be found here:  https://www.gktw.org/roadtrip/.

Take Action:

Pediatric Cancer legislation needs your support.  Learn more about how to support the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act 2.0, the Sawyer Finn ACT, and the Give Kids a Chance Act.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and partner institutions are now accepting applications for an online course on the registration of cancer in children.  Click here for more information.

Do you have an idea for solving the market failure problem that leads to no or slow drug development for children with cancer?  Check out the MSA Innovation Challenge 2023:  The submission template asks applicants to identify a market failure where the social value exceeds private incentives and where we know the measurable outcome we want to encourage (e.g. the development of a vaccine, capturing carbon out of the air, etc.).  Click here for more information.