CAC2 Childhood Cancer Community News Digest (October 4-10)

Assorted news from last week:

The FDA has granted a rare pediatric disease designation (RPDD) to lutetium-177(177Lu)-omburtamab-DTPA for use as a potential therapeutic option in pediatric patients with medulloblastoma, according to an announcement from CAC2 Member Y-mAbs Therapeutics, Inc.,  developer of the product.

Cancers in children, adolescents and young adults can be resistant to medical treatments or recur even when initial treatments appear successful.  Findings of a 10-year study led by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope, and in collaboration with the Beat Childhood Cancer Research Consortium, suggest that deeper genomic analysis and therapies that rely on the body’s immune system potentially offer greater patient benefit.

Pediatric patients who underwent limb salvage surgery (LSS) for lower extremity sarcomas had a substantial risk of undergoing late amputation.

Metformin, a drug commonly prescribed against diabetes, holds promise against a rare type of childhood brain tumor in laboratory studies, an international team of researchers led by the University of Michigan Health Rogel Cancer Center report in Science Translational Medicine.

Upcoming Webinars and Online Opportunities:

Join the NIH Common Fund-supported Gabriella Miller Kids First Data Resource Center (Kids First DRC) for a special demonstration and Q&A session October 19, 2021 at 2:30 pm eastern time during the annual meeting of the American Society for Human Genomics (ASHG). This one-hour session will support researchers studying childhood cancers and structural birth defects. Attendees will learn how to gain to nearly 1.4 PB of clinical and molecular data to support their next research project.  Click to Register.

CAC2 will host their October All-Member webinar on October 20 at noon ET.  Panelists include CAC2 Member Kim Buff (Momcology), Heather Held (Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation), and Robyn Dillon (Children’s Hospital of Richmond).  They will share information on their successes in connecting with children and families who can benefit from an organization’s support services.  Register for this webinar at: Finding Families to Serve.

A listening session to provide the community a forum for responding to the summary, including what may be missing or need modification, and provide input on how ARPA-H can engage effectively with stakeholders will be held on October 20, 2021, from 2:30 – 4:00 pm ET. Comments or questions may be submitted to in advance of the session.   White House Office of Science and Technology Policy & National Institutes of Health ARPA-H Listening and Feedback Session.