OPTIMISE: Offering New Hope to Young Patients
The Cancer Research Society (CRS) is proud to support the OPTIMISE clinical trial, which aims to provide more tailored treatments for children, adolescents, and young adults with hard-to-treat cancers. This innovative project is based on a personalized approach to better guide care according to each patient’s genetic profile.
Launched at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, OPTIMISE (Optimal Precision Therapies to CustoMISE Care in Childhood and Adolescent Cancer) targets young patients with advanced solid tumors, brain tumors, or lymphomas for whom conventional treatments are not effective.
Unlike traditional clinical trials, OPTIMISE makes it possible to test multiple therapeutic options in parallel. Tumors are genetically analyzed to match each patient with the most promising treatment arm.
The first treatment arm is testing a combination of chemotherapy and paxalisib, a drug that targets a key biological pathway involved in cancer cell growth. A second arm, to come, will evaluate a combination of immunotherapy drugs.
This study is part of an international collaboration between Canadian and Australian clinicians and researchers. Initially launched in Australia through the ZERO Childhood Cancer program, the trial opened its first Canadian site at SickKids under the direction of Dr. Daniel Morgenstern. Additional Canadian sites will soon join the project, including BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, led by Dr. Rebecca Deyell, and CHU Sainte-Justine in Montreal.
The CRS was the first organization to fund the launch of this clinical trial in Canada. Since then, other partners, including Stand Up to Cancer, ACCESS, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), have joined this promising initiative.
By expanding its support to researcher-led clinical trials, the CRS strengthens its commitment to research. These projects help accelerate access to innovative treatments, directly benefiting people affected by cancer.