Foundation News

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

As you now know we are working hard to get September recognized as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in Canada. We invite you to honour childhood cancer patients and their families and caregivers, and remember those young people who have lost their lives to this devastating disease.

Please visit our website to see what you can do to support Childhood Cancer Awareness Month activities in your community. Please let us know if you have any other ideas that we could share through E-NEWS or our Web site.

Scholarship Program

Order Foundation Wristbands Now!

Christmas Cards Support our Foundation

The Printing House (TPH) has designated our Foundation as one of 2 charities to receive the proceeds from their national Christmas Card program. You can order your cards today through The Printing House.

Upcoming Events

The Toddle: Our New National Event!

We are delighted to be piloting a new Foundation fundraising event – The Toddle - on October 1 at the Upper Canada Mall in Newmarket , Ontario .

View The Toddle flyer to find out more. We plan to take this event across Canada next year.

ICCCPO/SIOP Conference, Vancouver (September 20-24)

Meet parents, survivors, cancer support groups and medical professionals from around the world in Vancouver. To register, visit: www.siop.nl/siop2005 or www.icccpo.org

2005 Gold Ribbon Gala

On Monday, November 21 we host our Second Annual Gold Ribbon Gala at the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel in Toronto. View our invitation here. Please consider joining us, or supporting this major fundraising event for the Foundation in any way you can.

For information about tickets, silent auction prize donations or sponsorship, please call Christina Chen at 416 489-6440 x15 or 1-800-363-1062 or [email protected]

Fundraising Success

Harley-Davidson

The Harley-Davidson dealership in Richmond Hill , Ontario is selling black and orange wristbands to support our Foundation. All proceeds have been designated to support our Scholarship Program.

The Harley-Davidson dealership in Vancouver, Trev Deeley Motorcycles, is also supporting our Foundation through wristband sales. Their fundraising is being targeted to our Family Support Kit Program. We are working with Harley-Davidson to try to make this a national program.

In the news

Leukemia Gene Hope
http://www.sundaytimes.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,16251573%255E2761,00.html
By Catherine Madden
Perth scientists have identified the gene that makes the deadliest form of leukemia resistant to treatment. The world-first discovery by the WA Institute of Medical Research offers new hope to sufferers of acute myeloid leukemia, which has one of the lowest survival rates of any cancer. Institute director Peter Klinken said the gene, MLF1, played a crucial role in making leukemia more virulent. "This gene is instrumental when leukemias go from bad to worse," he said. "Over the years we have got better and better at treating leukemia with chemotherapy, but if this gene gets activated, the cells become very resistant to the chemotherapy. WAIMR researchers are searching for ways to "switch off" the gene. "Hopefully, we will find the new molecule or drug that can switch off the gene or the protein produced by the gene," Prof Klinken said. "If we can do that, the hope is that the success rate in treating this type of cancer could increase significantly." A genetic breakthrough in treating chronic myeloid leukemia has already resulted in the creation of a drug with a 95 per cent success rate.

Who's Fighting Cancer in Kids?
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-07-19-children-cancer_x.htm
By Liz Szabo
A government report in April found a "near absence" of research into pediatric cancer drugs. About half of the oncology drugs used to treat children are at least 20 years old, according to the report by the Institute of Medicine, a non-profit group that advises the government on health policy. Most drugs given to children were developed for adults, then passed down to children. In the past 10 years, only one cancer drug, Clolar, has received initial approval for children. Stephen Sallan, chief of staff at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, says adults attract more cancer research than children because they are a far larger and more lucrative market. Patients younger than 20 make up 12,400 of the nearly 1.4 million Americans stricken with cancer each year. Drug companies are generally unwilling to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into such a small market, he says. Drug companies say there are sound reasons to focus on adults. Susan Desmond-Hellman, president of product development at Genentech, says she's compelled by the opportunity to help large numbers of patients. Not only does cancer strike far more adults, but their disease is less curable: 64% of adult cancer patients can be cured, compared with 80% of kids. Organizing clinical trials for children also is difficult, Desmond-Hellman says. There are financial risks, as well. Some doctors say they're starting to see progress. Researchers are testing more than 20 targeted therapies in children, says Malcolm Smith, associate branch chief of pediatrics for the National Cancer Institute's cancer therapy evaluation program. Several medications such as Velcade, Rituxan and Iressa already have been on the market for adults for several years. Many doctors would like to see drugs tested in children earlier. Doctors are planning to test a drug in adults and children with a type of leukemia.

Shortage of Pediatric Cancer Drugs are Common
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-07-19-cancer-drugs_x.htm
By Liz Szabo
Doctors across the country are concerned about a shortage of some key drugs used to treat pediatric cancer. In the past few years, pharmacists and physicians have scrambled to find at least five standard chemotherapy drugs at one time or other, says Mary Relling, pharmaceutical department chair at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. Most shortages have been temporary. But an experimental drug used to treat leukemia, called Erwinia asparaginase, has been unavailable for about a year and a half, Relling says. Doctors prescribed it for children who can't tolerate a similar chemotherapy drug. Although the drug has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, patients could appeal to the manufacturer for "compassionate use" of the medication. The shortage of cancer drugs has much in common with the shortage of flu vaccine that occurred last fall. Many older drugs are made by only one or two companies. If something goes wrong at a factory, drug supplies may dry up, says Mark Goldberger, coordinator of drug shortages at the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. But the shutdown also disrupted methotrexate supplies from Mayne Pharma, an Australian company that got its supplies from the same Swiss factory, says spokesman Larry Hamson.  To help alleviate the shortage, the Food and Drug Administration allowed Mayne to ship drugs to the USA that had originally been intended for Canada. To save time, the FDA didn't require Mayne to replace Canadian product labels with American ones, Goldberger says. The agency also sped up the process of allowing Mayne to ship methotrexate directly to the USA. The FDA suggested that Mayne ship methotrexate directly to hospitals, rather than distributors, to prevent drugs from sitting in warehouses. Some hospitals are looking into producing generic drugs themselves. St. Jude researchers are working to make asparaginase, a complex process that could take five years, Relling says. "We don't want to become a drug company," Relling says. "We just want drugs to give our children."

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