Children’s Cancer Institute is at the forefront of a new era in childhood cancer treatment called Personalised Medicine; specifically for children with aggressive or relapsed cancer, where our researchers will be able to identify treatments tailored to the individual characteristics and biology of each child’s cancer and pinpoint drugs that will have the greatest likelihood of successfully treating their particular disease. This program will be developed in partnership with Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick and Children’s Cancer Centres in pediatric hospitals across Australia. Children with high risk or relapse cancer will have their tumour samples sent to the Institute for a series of highly complex genetic tests that will enable us to identify the area of genetic damage so we can test for the drugs most likely to treat their cancer effectively. This diagnosis will then be communicated back to their clinician within 4 weeks so the child’s individual treatment plan can be changed immediately to give them the best chance of survival.
The Personalised Medicine Program is a critical advance in childhood cancer research and treatment, but it is a complex, expensive program that will require $48 million to support over the next 6 years.
Some of these funds will come from government sources but they will not cover all costs and will not be enough, in fact for every dollar that we receive through government or grant funding, we need to match this with a dollar from our community and corporate partners.
To give an indication of why your support is so vital – it costs approximately $15,000 for one child to be administered the complex set of tests associated with the Personalised Medicine Program.