125 Million Reasons to Develop Drugs for Kids with Cancer

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Kids v Cancer is pleased to announce that a second priority review voucher was just sold by Knights Therapeutics to Gilead for $125 million. 

Priority review vouchers were initially created to provide faster reviews by the FDA as incentives for pharmaceutical companies to invest in new drugs and vaccines for tropical diseases. Kids v Cancer, a nonprofit advocating for attention and research to address pediatric cancer, championed the Creating Hope Act,which extended the opportunities of priority review vouchers to include rare pediatric diseases, including pediatric cancer.

The first voucher sale occurred on July 31st, 2014, when BioMarin sold a pediatric priority review voucher to Sanofi and Regeneron for $67.5 million.

"We are thrilled that this  voucher was valued at $125 million, almost twice the value of the first voucher," said Nancy Goodman, Executive Director of Kids v Cancer.  "This is proof that priority review vouchers can provide significant incentives for drug development in areas where there is a market failure, such as tropical diseases, pediatric cancer and other rare pediatric diseases."

Goodman founded Kids v Cancer and advocated for the Creating Hope Act after the death of her 10-year-old son, Jacob, who died of pediatric brain cancer.  Jacob was treated with drugs that were developed four decades ago due to the lack of new drug development for pediatric cancers.

Learn more at www.kidsvcancer.org

Kids v Cancer is a 501(c)(3) organization focused on changing the landscape of pediatric cancer research by identifying structural impediments at key junctures in the research process – new drugs, tissue donation and access to funding – and developing strategies to address them.

SOURCE Kids v Cancer

Related Links

http://www.kidsvcancer.org