Phase 1 Clinical Trial for ALK-Driven Childhood Cancers

A pill designed to zero in on abnormal genes that drive specific cancers has produced encouraging early results in children with an uncommon but aggressive type of lymphoma, and in children with a rare form of neuroblastoma. A phase 1 clinical trial of the drug crizotinib achieved remissions, with minimal side effects, for 10 of the children participating in a clinical study carried out by the multicenter Children's Oncology Group (COG). Children's Hospital of Philadelphia researcher Yael Mossé, MD, led the trial. It was the result of nearly two decades of work by collaborating researchers.