Assorted News from the Last Week: Findings from a cohort study published in JAMA Network Open found that survivors of childhood cancer who lived in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas or had modifiable chronic health conditions were associated with an increased risk for death 5 years or more following the diagnosis of pediatric cancer. Injectable methotrexate, cisplatin, and fluorouracil are all in shortage, according to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP). The FDA has granted an orphan drug designation to FORE8394 for the treatment of primary brain and central nervous system (CNS) malignancies, according to an announcement from Fore Biotherapeutics. ETV6 [...] Read more

Assorted News from the Last Week: Results from a new study show that giving a drug called dexrazoxane (Zinecard) before each dose of doxorubicin substantially decreases the risk that childhood cancer survivors will have treatment-related heart problems in adulthood.   Keeping track of pediatric cancer survival and cure fraction estimation may be key in assessing advances in care for the population, according to findings from the EUROCARE-6 study with results published in The Lancet Oncology. The FDA has granted an orphan drug designation to EP0042 for use as a potential therapeutic option in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with [...] Read more

Assorted News from the Last Week: This year's Grand Challenge includes a focus on pediatric solid tumors!  One of the nine announced challenges seeks to identify new therapies that target drivers of solid tumors in children, to improve survival and reduce the lifelong side effects caused by existing treatments.  Read about all nine challenges. Summary of the current state of the field of focused ultrasound for DIPG/DMG, including preclinical, technical, and clinical summaries in addition to recommended next steps for continued advancement of the game changing technology of Focused Ultrasound. People with a third copy of chromosome 21, known as [...] Read more

Assorted News from the Last Week: In March last year, the CCDI Molecular Characterization Initiative (MCI) launched. Since then, it has opened enrollment to children, adolescents, and young adults newly diagnosed with central nervous system tumors, soft tissue sarcomas, and rare tumors—with plans to expand. Results have been returned to more than 750 participants. Prediction models for kidney failure in long-term survivors of childhood cancer Researchers have developed a new drug delivery approach that uses nanoparticles to enable more effective and targeted delivery of anti-cancer drugs to treat brain tumors in children National Cancer Institute (NCI) is launching a first-of-its-kind, [...] Read more

Assorted News from the Last Week: National Cancer Institute (NCI) is launching a first-of-its-kind, public-private partnership to bring clinical and patient navigation support to families facing childhood cancer. About 20% of children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) experience refractory disease or relapse, despite receiving intensive therapy. Leukemia stem cells (LSC) have the ability to evade chemotherapy and propagate the disease leading to chemoresistance and relapse. Therefore, treatment options that are able to eliminate LSCs are likely to be more effective in prolonging disease- free survival. The Government Accountability Office released early results of the Research to Accelerate Cures and Equity [...] Read more

Assorted News from the Last Week: Investigators have found that socioeconomic deprivation, the presence of modifiable chronic health conditions, and frailty may all independently be associated with increased rates of late mortality among pediatric cancer survivors, according to a new study published by Ehrhardt et al in JAMA Network Open. The findings demonstrated that treating chronic health conditions alone may be inadequate to improve survivors’ life spans without policies to improve local environments. A team of almost 30 experts has compiled the first-ever guidelines on monitoring children for heart damage during cancer treatment. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has [...] Read more