Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has helped launch a new computational platform that will harmonize pediatric cancer data, allowing researchers, pharmaceutical companies, and advocacy groups to accelerate the pace of drug development for pediatric cancer. With funding from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) via a subcontract with Leidos Biomedical Research, current operator of the NCI’s Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, CHOP researchers have created the Molecular Targets Platform to facilitate pediatric research in response to the Research to Accelerate Cures and Equity (RACE) for Children Act, which requires companies to test cancer drugs in children that are used in adults when there is a shared molecular target.

Penn Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), who together pioneered the research and development of the world’s first personalized cellular therapy for cancer — also known as CAR T cell therapy — have announced plans with Costa Rica’s CCSS, or the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (Social Security Program), to facilitate CAR T research in Costa Rica. The effort is a step toward global equity in clinical research opportunities involving the use of CAR T cell therapies, which represent a leading-edge approach to cancer care not widely available across the world.

Today Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) announced that it has received a significant gift from Susan and Steve Kelly, local philanthropists and long-time supporters of CHOP, to establish the Susan S. and Stephen P. Kelly Center for Cancer Immunotherapy. The new Center, led by Dr. Stephan Grupp, will allow CHOP to create a more robust infrastructure to expand pediatric clinical trials and accelerate the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of novel treatments; increase the pipeline of innovative therapeutics and diagnostics; recruit and train top investigators and postdoctoral researchers to become the next generation of cancer immunotherapy experts; and increase equity and access to cell therapy clinical trials for socioeconomically disadvantaged patients.