In fact, the "Fight Kids Cancer" initiative annually launches an international call for projects aimed at all European researchers working on pediatric cancers. Our common goal is to accelerate the development of more effective treatments to save more lives of children with cancer.
Meeting the strict criteria of innovation, international collaboration and significant impact on young patients, all projects are analyzed and ranked according to criteria of excellence by a panel of independent international experts.
The following are the research projects that were selected during the April 2022 call.
The BEACON 2 trial will test two new promising anti-cancer medicines that will be combined with chemotherapy. The first drug (bevacizumab) specifically targets the blood vessels that help tumours grow. The second drug (dintutuximab beta) is an immunotherapy drug that enables the white blood cells (our immune system) to recognise the cancer cells as strangers in a patient’s body. It will also develop new combinations of drugs that improve the efficacy of immunotherapy, curing more children with fewer side effects.
Number of patients: 160
Duration: 3 years
Institutions : Vall d’Hebron Research Institute, Université de Barcelona, in cooperation with the University of Birmingham (UK)
Countries: United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, The Netherlands, Spain, Czech Republic, Italy, Norway, Israel, Australia and New Zealand.
The HEM-iSMART is a personalised medicine trial in which children with relapsed leukaemia or lymphoma will receive a treatment corresponding to the specific genetic alteration(s) present in their tumour. It aims at recruiting sixty patients in total.
Number of patients: 60
Duration: 3 years
Institution : Princess Maxima Center, Amsterdam UMC (Netherlands)
Countries: The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium (in total, centers will be opened in 14 European countries and in Israel).
In collaboration with the ITCC (Innovative Therapies for Children with Cancer) consortium, the European Intergroup for Childhood Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (EICNHL) and the I-BFM-Resistant Disease (RD).
The SACHA international registry will collect real-life data about innovative therapies administered outside clinical trials to children, adolescents and young adults with paediatric malignancies. These real-life data will help to: 1) recommend the halt of the prescription of the drugs that show to be ineffective or have an unacceptable toxicity, 2) support the development of paediatric clinical trials when new anti-tumour activity is observed.
Number of patients: 500 a year
Promotor : Gustave Roussy (France)
Countries : France, Italy, Spain, UK, The Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Austria, Denmark, Australia and New Zealand
This project aims to test a new generation of that class of drug, called GEN1029, on a mouse xenograft relapse model for neuroblastoma to see if this drug is capable of inhibiting the developments of relapses.
Duration : 2 years
Institution : UMC, Amsterdam UMC (The Netherlands)
Countries: The Netherlands, Germany
This project pursues two objectives. First, it aims at understanding the mechanisms which make infant ALL so aggressive. It has already been demonstrated that most of the babies diagnosed with ALL carry a leukaemia-specific mutation in the MLL gene. Understanding the MLL gene is thus the key to better treatments. Second, it will attempt to identify new treatment options by targeting these mechanisms and providing evidence to show that these newly identified treatments could be efficient when applied to patients in the clinic. The project’s findings could be used to improve the risk stratification between the patients and test the identified treatments in an international clinical setting. This could allow more personalised, effective, and kind treatments for infants with ALL in the future.
Duration : 2 years
Institution : Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel (Israel)
Country: Israel
In collaboration with ITCC consortium (Innovative Therapies for Children with Cancer)