Written by Laura Thrall, President & CEO of CureSearch
This is the first post in our “Introduction to Catapult” series on the blog. Each week we will highlight a new Catapult topic so you can better understand this groundbreaking strategy.
Dear Dedicated Supporters,
When I first began my position as President and CEO of CureSearch in 2012, I was already passionate about advancing healthcare through bold and innovative ideas. But my passion only grew when I learned that for several complex obstacles, great research was not turning into new treatments for children.
Childhood cancer continues to be the #1 disease killer of children, and in the last 20 years, there have only been three cancer treatments specifically developed and approved for children. This means most children are treated with dose-adjusted adult treatments and that most survivors experience devastating side effects of their too-toxic treatments. There is simply a lack of effective, less-toxic treatments available to children who need them the most.
This is because of many reasons – lack of collaboration between academia and the pharmaceutical industry, small pediatric cancer population sizes, and a challenging clinical trial system. But the main reason is because children’s cancer research often dies in the “Valley of Death” – the gap before clinical testing and drug development, where research falls without the funding and support to launch clinical trials and become commercialized treatments, broadly available to children.
Knowing all of this, and acknowledging that we have the dedication, expertise, and team of experts needed to accelerate the commercialization of children’s cancer treatments, we created the CureSearch Catapult Strategy.
Our goal: to protect the future of children diagnosed with cancer by delivering better, less toxic treatments.
As parents, we never want to see our child hurting, in pain, or struggling to succeed. As humans, we want the same for any other child, especially one diagnosed with cancer.
That is why we created Catapult.
I hope you will join us in this journey to catapult great research out of the lab and into the clinic to save children NOW.
Sincerely,
Laura Thrall
Help us advance better, less toxic treatments for children with cancer by donating toward Catapult’s lifesaving strategy. Give today so these children can survive and live longer, healthier lives tomorrow.
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