Overview of Immunotherapy Support & Infrastructure Barriers
Advancements in developing novel and/or improved immunotherapies for pediatric cancer are occurring at a rapid pace. Discoveries are occurring in academic, industrial and government laboratories. Scientific exchange and collaborations in the field of immunotherapy are being fostered by multiple scientific and clinical societies in North America, Europe and Asia. Most promising therapies are being tested initially at the single institutional level through Phase I trials, although in childhood cancer there is precedent for moving the most exciting therapies to multi-institutional Phase I, Phase II, and even Phase III, trials through the Children's Oncology Group. In addition, more focused consortiums such as New Agents for Neuroblastoma Therapy, Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium and the 'Pediatric Cancer Dream Team' sponsored by Stand Up to Cancer and the St Baldrick's Foundation, are available to test various immunotherapies in defined populations of childhood cancer. Another potential avenue, the Cancer Immunotherapies Trials Network, with support from the National Cancer Institute, is testing clinical-grade biologics in adults, but there may be opportunities for pediatric cancer patients through this mechanism as well. Funding in the USA is being driven at the federal level by both traditional grant mechanisms and translational research initiatives such as Production Assistance for Cellular Therapies from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Because of flat NIH budgets and sequestration, research support for preclinical and clinical research cannot keep up with inflation or the need to expand, and thus support from industry partners and private charitable foundations focused on childhood cancer are becoming increasingly important.