RACE for Children Act

There are almost 900 drugs in the adult cancer pipeline, but only a handful are in development for children. The RACE for Children Act will change that.

Under the RACE for Children Act, companies developing cancer drugs will test the drugs in children with cancer.  Pediatric oncologists will be able to study new cancer drugs, with industry funding.

The RACE for Children Act is not a new program.  It is an update of the Pediatric Research Equity Act (PREA) which requires drug companies to develop their drugs not only for adults, but for children as well.  However, PREA has never applied to cancer drugs because children’s cancers occur in different organs than adult cancers. The RACE for Children Act updates PREA by providing that companies developing cancer drugs would undertake PREA studies of their drugs in children when the molecular target of their drug is relevant to a children’s cancer.