Assorted news from the last week:

U.S. News & World Report released this year’s rankings of the top pediatric cancer hospitals in the United States. National Cancer Institute Director Ned E. Sharpless assesses how far we’ve come in the fight against cancer in 50 years and how much further we can go in the next 50. New research uncovers substantial differences in rates of childhood cancers when considering single year of age rather than grouping several years together. Study suggests that the chemotherapy regimen used for treating high risk neuroblastoma patients by the European Neuroblastoma Study Group is equally efficacious but better tolerated than a highly effective regimen from the US. Data suggests that genetic clues in rhabdomyosarcoma patients help predict how individual patients with this childhood cancer will respond to therapy, as well as to the development of targeted treatments for the disease. A humanized anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapy (huCART19) led to durable remissions in a majority of children and young adults with B-cell malignancies, including patients previously treated with CAR T-cell therapy.

Upcoming Webinars and Online Opportunities:

ACCELERATE will host the 2^nd episode of their webinar series Orphan Drug Regulations on June 29 at 11:00 EDT. It will include topics such as

• How does the orphan medicines regulation work in EU, US and Japan?
• How did it impact the field of rare diseases? What are the issues now in Research & Development?
• The oncology paradox: Why did the current adult-based approach not work for childhood cancers? How can we improve the situation to better target the ‘young patients’ needs?

The Ohio Department of Health has opened registration for the first annual Childhood Cancer Summit to be held ONLINE Sept 16-17. This FREE event is family-focused and includes a range of topics that are important to patients and caregivers at all stages of this experience, regardless of where you live. Both in-person and virtual CureFest registration is now open! Make your plans for September 25-26.

• Jonathan Agin (PREP4Gold)