Currently browsing: News Digest

Assorted news from the last week: CAC2 Member Joe Baber urges community members to take immediate action to secure Senate passage of the Creating Hope Reauthorization Act, in this guest blog post.  “Because of the incentives in this bill, for the first time, we now have several kids’ cancer drugs in development,” Joe writes. “We cannot allow this bill to die on the Senate floor! The House passed a version of this bill on September 30, but so far, only two of our 100 Senators have cosponsored the Senate version. It will die if it doesn’t pass by December 11.” […]

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Assorted news from the last week: With Election Day behind us, Congress may be in a better position now to enact another round of stimulus spending — something nonprofits say they desperately need. [NOTE:  this article is gated, but access is free when you register for the site.] Childhood Cancer in Ontario: The 2020 POGO Surveillance Report provides updated childhood cancer statistics on the impact and burden of cancer in children aged 0–14 years in Ontario.  By monitoring and publicly reporting Ontario childhood cancer statistics, POGO ensures the right data are available and being used to drive an effective childhood […]

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Assorted news from the last week: Children with birth defects who were conceived via in vitro fertilization (IVF) were more likely to develop childhood cancer compared to those conceived naturally, according to the results of a cohort study originating at Michigan State University. The likelihood of cancer survivors developing a new, unrelated malignancy is “about 10 to 20 percent higher” than someone in the general population. The insurance dropout rate among adolescents and young adult cancer survivors may have been lowered due to the dependent coverage provision in the Affordable Care Act, according to the findings of a new study […]

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Assorted news from the last week: The International Cancer Research Partnership (ICRP) published results from its Impact of Covid-19 on childhood cancer research funding organizations survey More news about the effect of Covid-19 on cancer research (all types, not just pediatric and AYA). A team of scientists at Texas A&M University have developed a way to more accurately both detect and monitor a common type of pediatric brain cancer, setting the stage for giving clinicians a real-time view into how the cancer responds to treatment. Researchers at the University of Michigan have demonstrated that a new liquid biopsy approach overcomes traditional barriers to [...] Read more

Assorted news from the last week: This year’s Cancer Grand Challenges (funded by Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Institute) include a category for Solid Tumors in Children. Contract Research Organization PRA Health Sciences published a white paper encouraging industry sponsors to identify, seek out, and partner with patient organizations as they try to meet the demands of the RACE for Children Act. OncoHeroes BioSciences announced that its therapeutic Volasertib received Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma and other rare soft tissue sarcomas. Cooking up Change launched this  video and a […]

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Assorted news from the last week: Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have genetically modified human NKT cells with a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) that enables them to specifically recognize and attack neuroblastoma, a form of childhood cancer. In a recent Journal of Clinical Oncology article, members from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) expressed the need for trial sponsors to coordinate their submissions of initial pediatric study plans (iPSP) and pediatric investigation plans (PIP) with regulatory authorities in order to facilitate pediatric cancer drug […]

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Assorted news from the last week: Twenty percent of children treated with drugs called anthracyclines go on to suffer heart failure later in life.  Dr. Greg Aune explores why. Research to develop a new treatment and bring a new drug to market is extremely expensive, and conventional methods for obtaining funding aren’t adequate. New funding models can help disease-focused nonprofit research foundations play a central role in raising capital and mobilizing an ecosystem focused on controlling and curing a disease. The U.S. Senate unanimously passed S.Res.742 – A Senate Resolution designating September as National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.  Senators Manchin […]

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Assorted news from the last week: In a Swedish study of how families in pediatric oncology experienced illness‐related information and communication with professionals and within the family, eighty‐six percent of the parents and 71% of the siblings reported that they had not received enough or any information about how the cancer and its treatment could affect the child's psychological health. EMA has published the final version of ‘Preparedness of medicines’ clinical trials in paediatrics - recommendations by the Enpr-EMA working group on trial preparedness.'  Key takeaways:  The definition of “trial preparedness” has been extended and a new term “trial feasibility” has [...] Read more

Assorted news from the last week: A study by a French research team found “that treatment with growth hormones is not associated with an increased risk of second tumors” for children who survived cancer and later received treatment for growth hormone deficiency. Brigitte Widemann, chief of the Pediatric Oncology Branch for the Center for Cancer Research at the National Cancer Institute, started conducting clinical trials for neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) in 2001, and results from the most recent trial holds promise to shrink the tumors or stop their growth. FDA grants rare pediatric disease designation to a second CAR (chimeric [...] Read more

Assorted news from the last week: Camp Okizu at Berry Creek, a camp for pediatric cancer patients and their families, sustained significant damage in California's Bear Fire. Early results of a clinical trial show that for children and adults with advanced soft tissue sarcoma, adding the targeted drug pazopanib (Votrient) to chemotherapy and radiation treatment is safe and increases the chances that most of the tumor will be dead before surgery. Study in Pediatric Blood Cancer concludes that physicians can foster trust through patient-centered communication and provision of high-quality information about a child’s cancer. Baltimore Ravens honor pediatric cancer patients. [...] Read more