Pediatric Cancer

“Considering the frequency of both pediatric cancer survivorship and of late toxicities related to treatment, childhood cancer is often the cancer diagnosis that lasts a lifetime.”

Approximately one-fourth of children, adolescents, and young adults with advanced cancer were eligible for a targeted therapy after genotyping their tumors in the screening protocol of the Pediatric Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice (MATCH) clinical trial.

The past week in oncology-related news includes shortages of crucial pediatric cancer drug, results of a study of racial disparities in multiple myeloma, and new drug on the horizon for HER2 metastatic breast cancer.

On December 12, 2019, the FDA issued draft guidance to implement amendments to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act that will facilitate early assessment of studies of molecularly targeted oncology drugs that may be effective in the treatment of pediatric cancers.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common cancer in pediatric patients, with an overall 5-year survival of >90%.1 The length of treatment for these patients is typically 2 to 3 years and involves several phases (induction, consolidation, and maintenance) and multiple forms of chemotherapy.