SOLVING KIDS CANCER INC

Solving Kids' Cancer proactively drives the creation of novel treatment options for children battling the three deadliest childhood cancers today. Scientists agree that there will be no magic bullet solution so SKC works to expand the menu of innovative therapies to give children more options for cures.

SKC understands that traditional treatment is not good enough for children battling brain tumors, neuroblastoma and sarcoma. Survival rates are too low, and of the children that do survive their disease, a large majority of them (65%) are faced with serious, long-term side effects from treatment. We aim to improve the statistics by focusing on only the most promising, next-generation treatment options that are paving the way to new cures, including immunotherapy, targeted therapy, combination therapy, and discovery research.

Our approach is objective, unbiased and led by the patient and parent community. This represents a departure from the 'traditional' model of research philanthropy in childhood cancer.

Our approach increases the influence of the parent community on these decisions. As a nonprofit with no direct affiliation to any one researcher, cancer center, or company; Solving Kids' Cancer is able to assess and fund research with absolute focus on how it serves those in need and fits into a wider strategy to cure childhood cancer.

Understand the Landscape.
Strengthen the Science.
Cure the Child.

We developed a strategic model that includes: (1) identification of the greatest unmet needs for improving survival rates for the 3 deadliest childhood cancers - neuroblastoma, brain tumors and sarcomas (2) A process for developing specific programs to fill these gaps as effectively and urgently as possible using philanthropic dollars. 3) Pursue and engage like-minded stakeholders (other nonprofit organizations and donors) to collaborate in funding these programs.

Children with fatal cancers need an expanded menu of novel treatments. The chances of survival increase when there are more options to try. New treatment options are utilized by children within the experimental clinical trial platform. Each year, we identify early promising research that can be brought into a clinical trial and provide the support needed to launch them for children. In parallel, we commission specific clinical trial research to be conducted towards the greatest unmet needs that we identify.

SKC was founded by a group of parents with shared experiences and values regarding pediatric cancer.
Each of our journeys were marked with active research advocacy efforts for our own children with cancer - searching and funding specific clinical research that might benefit our child that previously didn't exist.
After losing our children, we were inspired to carry on these same efforts for other children.
We prioritized utilizing core business principles in the effort to make the clinical research we support and facilitate as effective and expedient as possible - children with cancer cannot wait.

Our 9-member scientific council is composed of industry professionals who share our vision for improving survival. Working together in a team environment of peers, we operate as a think-tank that takes action. We dedicate ourselves full-time to establishing our model and implementing our strategies towards our mission.

In six years, SKC has worked with the research community to create 15 new treatment options for children with these fatal cancers. We are prioritizing and advancing immunotherapy, a new and very promising category of treatment for childhood cancers. We supported the first oncolytic virus trial in pediatric cancers, and are increasing our immunotherapy programs each year. Currently 67% of our research programs are focused on immunotherapy.

SKC has emerged as a pediatric cancer charity leader in this arena, incubating, initiating, and incentivizing researchers to apply promising immunotherapy advances to childhood cancers. SKC has recognized the need to shift away from toxic standard categories of treatment (chemotherapy, radiation) that are not curative in many solid tumors and result in debilitating long-term effects on those young bodies that do survive.

Our work is on the frontier of the frontier of pediatric cancer research. It is experimental and we are taking the first steps into the unknown. When we complete each project we will know a little more and that knowledge informs our direction and our focus. Research is exploration and we will continue to explore and create novel treatments until every child with cancer has at least five viable therapeutic options available to them.

Published white papers from our projects and press releases can be found at www.solvingkidscancer.org