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Clinical Trial Readiness for CNS Drug Delivery: 8-9^th November 2021

'A really enlightening event' 

Sponsored by Children with Cancer UK, this was our third drug delivery workshop, this time with a focus on advancing 'clinical trial readiness' for CNS drug delivery. 

It brought together around 50 delegates (clinicians, researchers, regulatory experts, policy makers, and representatives from funding bodies, brain tumour charities and industry) to discuss the challenges identified by the Clinical Trials Working Group. These included the need for accurate pre-clinical models, available funding options for preclinical to clinical translation, navigation of the regulatory landscape, and the need for multicentric working.

'Has helped focus my research efforts on the barriers to progress including improved biomarkers and preclinical models'

Over the course of the two days, delegates participated in sessions led by international research leaders, enabling them to explore opportunities to develop transformative research plans that will lead to new, innovative ways of overcoming the significant challenges presented by childhood brain tumour drug delivery: 

• Dr Marcel Kool (KiTZ, Germany) - Accurate pre-clinical models for paediatric brain cancer drug delivery
• Dr Roy Harris (Research Design Service East Midlands, UK) - Funding options for preclinical to clinical translation
• Prof Anthony Chalmers (University of Glasgow, UK) - Roadmap for preclinical to clinical translation: the backbones
• Dr Joshua Savage (Birmingham CRUK Clinical Trials Unit, UK) - Navigating the regulatory landscape 
• Dr Madhumita Dandapani (The University of Nottingham, UK) - Multicentric working
• Prof Kathy Warren (Harvard Medical School, Dana Farber Cancer Institute/Boston Children’s Hospital, US) - Taking your research into clinical trials: a Q&A clinic.

‘I will be able to enter new collaborations and research endeavors more thoughtfully with an eye to the ultimate clinical ‘translatability’ of my work'

 

We also took the opportunity to ask our delegates their opinion on which delivery strategy is most feasible to pursue as a priority right now (results shown in bar chart.)

The workshop also enabled us to start pulling together a ‘Roadmap’ document for preclinical to clinical translation. Once finalised, this interactive document will be freely available to the neuro-oncology research community via our website.

We rounded up the workshop by launching a pump prime funding opportunity for projects that will move trial proposals into an advanced state of readiness. We were delighted to be approached by the charity Abbie’s Army, who wanted to partner with us on this funding call, and agreed to fund one successful project specific to DIPG. Following independent peer review, three projects were chosen for funding:

• Dr Antonios Pouliopoulos, King’s College London: Focused ultrasound for targeted carboplatin delivery in Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma
• Dr Wenbo Zhan, University of Aberdeen: Optimisation of infusion catheter posture for improving convection-enhanced drug delivery to brain cancer
• The third project is confidential at present, whilst contracts are drawn up and agreed.

You can read more about the pump prime research projects here.

List of institutions represented at the workshop