Pediatric brain tumours (PBT) are the leading cause of cancer-related death in children under the age of 20. Treatments are often ineffective and have significant effects on quality of life. New “precision medicine” treatments using genomic and molecular analyses have a great deal of potential, but there are barriers in bringing targeted treatments to pediatric populations.
In this study, we gathered data about the social, ethical, economic, and legal challenges of researching and developing new pharmaceutical treatments for pediatric brain tumours. Our aim was to identify and understand the barriers and facilitators to the implementation of safer and more effective treatments, facilitate communication across stakeholder groups, and highlight potential interventions.
This work models the hypothetical roadmap of pharmaceutical innovation in pediatric neuro-oncology. The roadmap presents the social, ethical, economic, and legal barriers to and facilitators of innovation in this sector, based on extensive in-depth qualitative and ethnographic research.
This research was funded by Genome Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Research. 🇨🇦