Commentary on "European collaboration in trials of new agents for children with cancer" by Ablett et al.
Recent progress in establishing a European network to conduct paediatric oncology phase I/II clinical trials calls attention to the challenges facing researchers developing new agents for children with cancer. These challenges include: ensuring that effective infrastructures are in place to safely and efficiently conduct early phase clinical trials in children while meeting all ethical and regulatory requirements associated with such trials; obtaining timely access to new agents from pharmaceutical sponsors for both preclinical testing and for phase I and phase II testing; and effectively prioritizing new agents for evaluation in children so that those agents most likely to benefit children with specific cancers are brought forward for clinical testing. The use of public funds to develop and maintain clinical trials infrastructures devoted to paediatric oncology drug development can help in addressing these challenges and can facilitate the timely paediatric evaluation of new agents, thereby contributing to the goal of identifying more effective treatments for children with cancer.
Smith
Malcolm A
MA
Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program, NCI 6130, Executive Boulevard Room 7025 Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. smithm@ctep.nci.nih.gov
Anderson
Barry D
BD
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D017321:Clinical Trials, Phase I as Topic; D017322:Clinical Trials, Phase II as Topic; D005060:Europe; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents