Assorted News from the Last Week: A Danish study shows that five-year survival of all children with acute lymphatic leukemia (ALL) has continued to increase to 94%. Nivolumab-AVD is poised to be the new standard of care for Hodgkin Lymphoma in adult and pediatric patients. The FDA has granted an orphan drug designation to gallium maltolate for use as a potential therapeutic option in pediatric patients with glioblastoma multiforme. The war with Russia compounds the struggles of pediatric cancer patients and their families, but it has also prompted positive changes in treatment in Ukraine. (NYTimes, gated) In a study reported [...] Read more

Assorted News from the Last Week: From the Journal of the National Cancer Institute: "the annual rate of pediatric cancer has declined from a peak in 2016 but remains higher than 20 years ago."   Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who are overweight or obese and are treated with asparaginase-containing pediatric regimens, are likelier to have poorer outcomes than those with normal body mass index. In Gabrielle Zevin's novel Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, video games are channels of healing, imagination and love. The book spans more than 30 years — from the 1980s to [...] Read more

Assorted News from the Last Week: Sub-Saharan Africa is facing a childhood cancer crisis. Annually, nearly 90% of the more than 100 000 children who develop cancer in sub-Saharan Africa die. The immunomodulatory agent lenalidomide (Revlimid) appeared clinically active and tolerable in pilocytic astrocytomas and optic pathway gliomas in a cohort of pediatric patients who progressed following initial therapy, according to findings from a phase 2 trial (NCT01553149) published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The NCI MyPART team and their collaborators have published two papers in the journal, Pediatric Blood and Cancer. One paper, entitled “NCI intramural program approach to [...] Read more

Assorted News from the Last Week: Yoram Unguru (past CAC2 Summit speaker, bioethicist, and uncle of a pediatric cancer survivor) on the cancer drug shortage. (gated, but excellent) Children, adolescents, and young adults with cancer (CAYAs) remained at increased risk for mental health disorders after the remission of their cancer. Summary of the ACCELERATE Paediatric Strategy Forum on PI3K, mTOR, AKT and GSK3β Inhibitors in children and adolescents The Comprehensive Cancer Survivorship Act (CCSA) was introduced in both the U.S. House and Senate.  This is a critical piece of comprehensive legislation that will address gaps in survivorship care and develop [...] Read more

Assorted News from the Last Week: NCI’s Childhood Cancer Data Initiative has grown since its launch in 2019. Read about the initiative’s activities, successes, and priorities for the future in the most recent issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.  Just-released Voice of the Patient report "A Ticking Time Bomb" stems from an Externally-led Patient-Focused Drug Development (EL-PFDD) meeting on reducing cardiac late effects in pediatric cancer survivors, held in September 2022. U.S. News and World Report on best children's cancer hospitals released. The National Library of Medicine (NLM) has launched the modernized ClinicalTrials.gov website, which is the result of a [...] Read more

Assorted News from the Last Week: The FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) met on June 16, 2023, to discuss considerations for dose optimization of new drug and biological products for pediatric patients with cancer. Recent improvements to the CCDI Molecular Targets Platform (MTP) include new and updated sequencing data and upgraded features, such as enhanced gene expression graphs for childhood cancer data. Find the MTP and other CCDI applications in the CCDI Hub. Base-edited CAR-T product 'potent' in relapsed childhood T-Cell ALL. Ahead of his discharge, Pope Francis made a surprise return visit to Gemelli Hospital's Paediatric Oncology and [...] Read more

Assorted News from the Last Week: National Comprehensive Cancer Network releases statement addressing ongoing chemotherapy shortages. Childhood cancer survivors at increased risk for sleep concerns decades after diagnosis CAC2 Supporting Organization Fennec Pharmaceuticals announces European Commission marketing authorization for Pedmarqsi™ (sodium thiosulfate) to reduce the risk of hearing loss in pediatric oncology patients. Adding the drug blinatumomab (Blincyto) to chemotherapy may help more infants with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) survive, according to the results of a small international clinical trial. Parents of children in palliative care placed the highest value on the child's quality of life (QoL), but with considerable [...] Read more

Assorted News from the Last Week: 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 [...] Read more