The problem
Only four drugs have been developed to treat childhood cancers since 1980.
Childhood cancers are different than their adult counterparts at a cellular level. However, children must be treated with adult cancer drugs because they are the only thing we have available to our children! As a comparison to the mere four drugs developed for childhood cancers, more than fifty new drugs have been developed for adults in that same time frame. The reason is one of finances, there are fewer children with cancer, making it much less profitable for large pharmaceutical industries to develop drugs for our children. This is a significant roadblock to progress in treatments for our children.
The solution
to these problems begins with research.
Braden’s Hope is working with Children’s Mercy Hospital in conjunction with the KU Cancer Center and the Stower’s Institute, to support childhood cancer research. The research we are funding seeks to find the activator for childhood cancers (the switch that is flipped to make a regular cell become a cancerous one), and targeted treatments that shut those activators down.
The innovative researchers at Children’s Mercy collaborate with the KU Cancer Center to be one of only 6 research institutions in the United States with their own drug development center and are ranked #2 in the nation. Because of this unprecedented collaboration of staff and resources we are able to develop treatments that other locations are unable to do without the involvement of large pharmaceutical industries. Braden’s Hope and Kansas City are uniquely positioned to break through the barriers to cures for our children and bring hope of a future to our heroes with cancer.
Take action
in the fight against childhood cancer.
Inspire others with these shareable impact images & facts.
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- Cancer is the number one cause of death by disease among children.
- About 35% of children diagnosed with cancer will die within 30 years of diagnosis.
- Childhood cancer is not one disease – there are more than 12 major types of pediatric cancers and over 100 subtypes.
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- 47 children are diagnosed with cancer every single day in the United States.
- Since 1980, only four drugs have been approved in the first instance for use in children.
- Childhood Cancer Research receives less than 4% of the cancer budget. The NCI spent an average of 3.97% of it’s research funding on childhood cancer research.
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- One in 285 children in the U.S. will be diagnosed with cancer by the time they are 20 years old.
- 300,000 new cases of childhood cancer are diagnosed each year worldwide.
- 95% of Childhood Cancer Survivors will have a significant health related issue by the time they are 45 years of age.
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Sources:
- American Cancer Society, Childhood and Adolescent Center Statistics, 2014
- National Vital Statistics Report, Vol. 62.6, December 20, 2013
- National Cancer Institute
- Journal of the National Cancer Institute
- Coalition Against Childhood Cancer