Children with cancer are being denied new drugs which are available to adults. Medics at the Royal Marsden Hospital and the Institute of Cancer Research said the rules were “too cautious”. A study has shown that just 7% of suitable children were getting drugs that target genetic weak spots of cancer.
Cancers are caused by former healthy cells evolving and dividing without control. Precision cancer medicine matched the cell present in the cancer to drugs that target it.
Around 1,850 children are diagnosed with cancer in the UK every year. Child cancers are rare and make up less than 1% of cancers in the UK. Treatment is processing for blood cancers but for solid cancers it is slower.
In a study samples were taken from 223 children and analysed for the DNA in the tumours. The doctors looked for 91 genes that can turn a cell cancerous and could potentially be treated with a targeted therapy. The researchers found just over half of cases could have been treated with a precision drug but only 7% were.
There is a number of reasons why children are not already getting these drugs, them reasons are:
- Some children are already responding to traditional therapies
- Some were/are on trials of pioneering immunotherapy drugs
- Others were/are too ill.
Dr Áine McCarthy, from Cancer Research UK, said: “Making sure children and young people with cancer have access to the best treatment options available is vital to improving survival and long-term outcomes.
“Unfortunately, as this study highlights, there are barriers that limit access to these potentially lifesaving treatments.
“We need more clinical trials to assess if new or existing ‘adult’ drugs are safe and effective to use in children, and what long-term side effects they may cause.”
