Clinical Trials : Pediatric Cancer

Wood, Geretta (June 3, 2003). Pediatric Expertise for Advisory Panels; Guidance for Industry and FDA Staff. Retrieved from http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/DeviceRegulationandGuidance/GuidanceDocuments/ucm082185.htm

The dangers and possible harmful effects that these medications hold for a young child will not help the parents feel too convinced about the usage of medication. As stated in Time this month, “We know that kids are not just little adults, they metabolize medications differently” (Kluger, et al). Parents might feel scared or reluctant to administer medication after hearing assertions about the dangers. Parents worry enough about their kids everyday without the use of a strong medication. The tendency to assume that doctors fear the usage of medication in children is overwhelming. It is more than clear to see why parents, or anyone affected by this disorder

Cancer is a word which evokes many different images and emotions. Nothing in this world can prepare a person for the utter devastation of finding out someone has been diagnosed with cancer, especially when this person is a child. Over the past twenty five years the amount of research and the survival rate for children suffering with cancer have increased dramatically. Despite these successes, the funding for new research necessary to keep these children alive and healthy is miniscule and too dependent on short term grants. Of the billions of dollars spent each year on cancer treatments and research less than a third is contributed to researching pediatric cancer. Given the media focus on adult cancers, research for pediatric cancer is

2. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has helped drive overall cancer survival rates from less than 20 percent to more than 70 percent, and the survival rate for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common form of pediatric cancer, from 4 percent to 94 percent.

With this is a copy of my justification report on the subject of funding and support of research in pediatric cancer and assisting poor parents of children suffering from cancer. This statement is a review of my findings from the most recent year of working in X Cancer Specialty Center, and a separate research that other researchers have conducted outside the center. This paper will be useful in justifying the funding of extensive research in pediatric cancer, and the necessity to assist parents of the cancer patients to meet medical costs. I have completed this report at no cost to the organization, and I carried out and completed this research during off hours.

Children all around the world have cancer.Most of them survive because of treatment.Today more people are trying to find ways to cure cancer and every day we are getting better at finding the cure.

I. Open with Impact: About 15,270 children ages 19 or under will be diagnosed with cancer this year. (National Cancer Institute, 2017)

While parents have their kids engaged into the drug treatment they should be aware of the long term effects on the kids. We have to take into consideration that your brain isn’t fully developed until you are twenty six years old, but we are giving these drugs to kids as young as

Parents do not want their children to take something that the effects of are still unknown, so they would be concerned with this

Out of 100,000 children 32.1 cancer diagnoses occur in the age group 0-14, 138.6 occur in the 15-39 age group, and 2,053.8 occur in 40 and older (cancer.gov). Pediatric cancer, being so rare, makes research and development hard to fund because there are not many eligible participants for each specific trial. This creates a “Catch 22” by having a good societal support system, yet not having enough “return-on-investment” (Milne). Pediatric cancer is the leading cause of death in children after accidents, however the amount of deaths has lower drastically in recent years. The mortality rate as a whole has decreased by fifty percent in the last thirty years, however for patients with cancers other than lymphoma or leukemia the mortality rate has not declined since 1996 (Analysis of the National Cancer Institute’s Investment). Lymphoma and leukemia are the most common cancers that children are diagnosed with, but there are many more that can occur that need new research in order to discover ways to decrease the current mortality rate. In 1960 it was discovered that leukemia could be treated by “combination chemotherapy and dose intensity” this brought the curability up from 10% before this discovery to 80% by the 1990s (Norris and Adamson). Although this treatment has been successful for leukemia patients, the most common of childhood cancers, it is not as successful with other types of cancer. There are currently clinical trials that take place to begin trying to find treatments or cure for pediatric cancer, however because of lack of funding many of the trials do not continue or never really take off. Due to the lack of funding and efforts put forth into research for pediatric cancer more the 2,500 children die in America every year (thetruth365.org). Children diagnosed with cancer deserve more work to be put into finding a cure so they can go on to live long, happy

About 10,730 children in the United States under the age of 15 were diagnosed with cancer in 2009 (American

As established in the National Cancer Institute, “Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide for children and adolescents in America, accounting for more than 91,250 children that lose their lives to this disease” (National Cancer Institute). Cancer is not considered a terminal illness, but more of a chronic illness because of the intense treatment that the individual has to endure. As a result of this treatment the chances of survival for children suffering from pediatric cancer has increased around 80 percent. The increment in the survival rate has made it possible for many parents to not have to go through the acceptance that they are about to lose their child to a terminal illness, but have coping strategies that will make them adapt to the fear of the reoccurrence of that illness. This illness has a great impact on the patient as well as the family because not only do they have to adapt to this illness physically, but also mentally. Research has shown that there are both short term and long term effects that come into effect when the child is both in treatment and also years after the treatment. The type of cancers that these adolescents have to endure range from leukemia, brain tumors and other cancerous tumors that have appeared in recent medical studies. These tumors can either be benignant, an acute case that is non-cancerous or malignant, a cancerous case that will need intense treatment over an extended period of time.While many would say there is more of a

When a parent takes their child to the doctor the last thing they want to hear is that their child has cancer. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for a child to be diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, also known as ALL. Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia is one of the most common forms of childhood cancer, and “makes up approximately 25% of cancer diagnoses among children under 15 years old” (3). Children under five years of age are at the most risk of developing ALL. Since it is an acute form of cancer once the onset has begun the disease quickly begins to worsen, therefore patients must seek treatment as soon as possible. “ALL is different than other diseases in that it is not just a single disease but also rather a group of related diseases with different subtypes”(1). This uniqueness causes the treatment of ALL to depend on the subtypes the patient has, therefore each

1. Leukemias (blood cancers) and brain cancers combined account for more than half of all new cases of pediatric cancer.

As one can see the price for one single child with cancer treatment that needs necessary care over multiple nights can be, on average, up to 6 figures in the United States (oeconline 2). Statistically, the national cost per child is about equivalent to $815,830 in 2007 dollars (oeconline 1). The average per day costs for pediatric cancer has increased consistently from 2000 to 2005 by over twenty percent, figuratively that is from $14,400 to $17,500 (Nagamine 2). Although the prices are already substantially high they are apparently still on the rise (Nagamine 2).