It’s a real challenge to treat a patient with relapsed cancer, because the cancer has outsmarted initial treatment and has become more resistant, says Steven Dubois, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at UCSF’s School of Medicine and a specialist in childhood cancers.
Now, DuBois and his colleagues at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center have access to a vastly expanded array of potential resources in their battle against childhood cancers.
The extra firepower comes from UCSF’s recent acceptance into the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) Phase 1 Consortium, an elite National Cancer Institute consortium of institutions selected to lead Phase 1 studies of potential pediatric cancer drugs. UCSF is one of only two COG Phase 1 institutions in California, and one of only 21 centers in the United States and Canada.
Phase I testing, the first step in a drug’s translation from the laboratory to possible approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is designed to assess safety and appropriate dosage in a specific population — in this case, children.