Introduction

The successes that have been achieved in treating childhood cancers stand as beacons against the less dramatic improvements for adults with cancer. Progress began to accelerate in the 1960s and 1970s, as treatment regimens were built up, primarily by building combinations of chemotherapeutic drugs. However the near absence of research in pediatric cancer drug discovery threatens to halt the progress in childhood cancer treatment achieved during the past four decades. Making Better Drugs for Children with Cancer identifies the major issues to be addressed in developing new agents for childhood cancers, the gaps in research and development, and the steps that have been suggested to move the process forward. This report also makes a new proposal to capitalize on today’s science to bring new treatments to children’s cancers.