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- Posted Thursday November 10, 2011
Dell Commits Funding, Cloud Technology and Employee Engagement to Fight Neuroblastoma and Other Pediatric Cancers
TGen among leading medical centers participating in personalized
medicine clinical trial
NEW YORK, Nov. 10, 2011 - Dell today announced a major
commitment of funding, employee engagement and cloud
computing technology to support pediatric cancer research
programs globally, including the world's first personalized
medicine trial for pediatric cancer conducted by the Neuroblastoma
and Medulloblastoma Translational Research Consortium (NMTRC) and
supported by The Translational Genomics Research Institute
(TGen).
TGen will use its genomic technology within Dell's donated cloud to
help NMTRC identify a greater depth of personalized treatment
strategies for children with neuroblastoma who are enrolled in
NMTRC's clinical trial.
Dell is expanding its Powering the Possible program to focus on
neuroblastoma and other pediatric cancers because of the
devastating nature of the disease and to address the void of new
and innovative treatments available for children.
Since the 1980s, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has
approved only one new treatment for any type of childhood cancer,
compared with 50 approved treatments for adult cancers in the same
time period. Through Powering the Possible, Dell is making a
multi-year, multi-million dollar commitment of funds and employee
volunteerism to support innovative pediatric treatment programs
globally.
"Trial and Error" treatment ineffective and time consuming
Neuroblastoma strikes one in 100,000 children annually, usually
before the age of 5, and despite it being so rare, it is so deadly
that it is responsible for one in seven pediatric cancer
deaths. It attacks the sympathetic nervous system, which
controls heart rate, blood pressure and digestion, with aggressive
tumors that are unique to each child. In fact, it is the unique and
aggressive nature of neuroblastoma tumors that render ineffective
conventional approaches to developing a blockbuster,
one-size-fits-all treatment to the disease. With little
commercially or federally funded research underway because of its
small patient base, parents and pediatric oncologists have relied
largely on "trial and error" in their search for a treatment that
will work from among the hundreds of available adult cancer
trials.
Genomic guided treatment underway
To overcome these challenges, parents and physicians and scientists
from the NMTRC, the Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) and TGen
have teamed to launch the world's first personalized medicine
clinical trial investigation for pediatric cancer. The trial,
funded primarily by parents of children with neuroblastoma and
their foundations, is based on research from a group of
collaborating investigators who are developing a personalized
medicine process that is intended to permit near "real time"
processing of information on patient tumors and prediction of best
drugs for a specific patient.
This process generates more than 200 billion measurements per
patient that must be analyzed, shared and stored.
Unfortunately, the computation and analysis of this information can
take weeks to months to process and the magnitude of this task has
limited the depth and number of pediatric cancer patients who can
be included in this groundbreaking clinical trial.
Dell-donated cloud gives TGen and NMTRC power to do more for
pediatric cancer
Dell's donated cloud solution will provide needed computing power
to help increase TGen's gene sequencing and analysis capacity by
1,200 percent1 and improve collaboration between the team of
physicians, genetic researchers, pharmacists and computer
scientists working on the trial. Specifically, scientists and
physicians will use the donated cloud to investigate new
technologies that accelerate genetic analysis and identification of
targeted treatments for each patient from months to days. The
additional computing power will also improve the availability of
critical information and allow researchers to develop a real-time
knowledge repository of the latest findings on the most effective
treatments for oncologists to use globally. The researchers also
intend to use the donated cloud to expand the program's
participation from a handful of children today to hundreds of
children over the next three years, with the goal of establishing
an information framework that, subject to regulatory approval,
could one day help thousands of pediatric cancer patients. The new
TGen cloud will also facilitate rapid transfer of information to
international partners and lay the groundwork for expansion of the
trial to additional types of childhood cancers in the future.
NMTRC Hospitals now enrolling patients
NMTRC is now enrolling patients in the first stages of this
personalized medicine trial. Participating medical centers
include:
- The Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, Grand Rapids, Mich.
- Levine Children's Hospital, Charlotte, N.C.
- M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Orlando, Fla.
- National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Md.
- SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center, St. Louis, Mo.
- Children's Mercy Hospital and Clinics, Kansas City, Mo.
- Connecticut Children's Medical Center, Hartford, Conn.
- Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Ore.
- Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego, Calif.
- The Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, S.C.
Quotes
"Even at this earliest moment in genomics-guided therapy, there is
universal recognition that the amount and complexity of data is
overwhelming," said Jeffrey M. Trent, Ph.D., president and research
director of TGen and VARI. "Dell's commitment to helping children
with cancer, coupled with its expertise in developing cloud-based
solutions for health information, will provide great benefit in
terms of helping us manage the massively complex data generated by
this clinical trial. This will help physicians and scientists share
information rapidly, and is designed to help us arrive at the
optimal treatment decision for each child battling cancer."
"This trial offers hope to those children facing what is among the
worst of all pediatric cancers," said Giselle Sholler, M.D., NMTRC
chair and co-director of VARI's Pediatric Cancer Translational
Research Program. "We are confident the genomic-based personalized
medicine approach is the right one, and Dell's contribution will
help remove barriers that currently exist in how rapidly and easily
we can analyze and share information to benefit our
patients."
"For far too long, children with pediatric cancer have relied on
the hand- me-down adult cancer treatments which are brutally harsh
and, in many cases, more punitive than curative for children. We've
given them to kids because something is better than nothing," said
Patrick Lacey, co-founder and president of Friends of Will Cancer
Foundation. "And now, thanks to innovative doctors and Dell's
incredible support, kids will finally get a chance at treatment
designed to improve their lives and survival. They don't have to
settle for brutal and ineffective therapy as status quo any longer
and they have a chance to trail blaze the way to more effective and
less toxic therapy for everyone with cancer."
"I applaud Dell's commitment toward filling a great void in the
development of specialized treatments for childhood cancers.
Childhood cancer is the leading disease killer of American
children. Because of the orphan nature of these diseases and the
high cost of drug development for them, it's been difficult for the
pharmaceutical industry to develop treatments," said Congressman
Michael McCaul (R-Texas), founder and co-chair of the Congressional
Childhood Cancer Caucus, who recently introduced legislation to
incentivize the pharmaceutical industry to develop such
treatments. This is the kind of private endeavor that is
needed to save and improve the lives of so many children."
"It's time to do more for the children and families battling
pediatric cancer," said Paul Bell, president of Dell Public and
Large Enterprise and chairman of Dell's Strategic Giving Council.
"And pediatric cancer is an area where Dell can address an unmet
medical need and our people and technology can make an immediate
and lasting difference. We hope TGen's new cloud will help
pediatric oncologists develop new ways to eliminate the trial and
error in the treatment for pediatric cancer patients for whom every
day matters."
Additional Information:
@DellHealth on Twitter
Dell Powering the Possible
NMTRC.org
NMTRC Participating Hospitals
Beatnb.org
Virtual Press Kit
About Dell
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) listens to customers and delivers
innovative technology and services that give them the power to do
more. Dell's Powering the Possible program is funded by the
company's pledge to contribute 1 percent of its pre-tax profits to
learning, pediatric cancer, innovative social entrepreneurship and
disaster relief initiatives that address unmet needs globally and
enable human potential. Information about Dell Powering the
Possible is available at www.dell.com/pediactriccancer. As the
leading provider of healthcare IT services in the world, Dell helps
healthcare organizations harness the power of information to
simplify administration; coordinate and manage patient care;
transition from episodic care to prevention and wellness management
and ultimately to deliver personalized medicine.
About TGen
The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) is a Phoenix,
Arizona-based non-profit organization dedicated to conducting
groundbreaking research for life changing results. Research
at TGen is focused on helping patients with diseases such as
cancer, neurological disorders and diabetes. TGen is on the cutting
edge of translational research where investigators are able to
unravel the genetic components of common and complex diseases.
Working with collaborators in the scientific and medical
communities, TGen believes it can make a substantial contribution
to the efficiency and effectiveness of the translational process.
TGen is affiliated with the Van Andel Research Institute in Grand
Rapids, Michigan. For more information, visit: www.tgen.org.
About the Neuroblastoma and Medulloblastoma Translational Research
Consortium
Founded in 2008, the NMTRC is a nationwide network of childhood
cancer trials based at the Van Andel Research Institute and chaired
by Dr. Giselle Sholler. The consortium includes the following
clinical partners: Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical
Center; Saint Louis University School of Medicine; Center for
Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders; Arnold Palmer Hospital
for Children; MD Anderson Cancer Center Orlando; Children's
Mercy Hospitals and Clinics; Connecticut Children's Medical Center;
Doernbecher Children's Hospital; Oregon Health & Science
University; Helen DeVos Children's Hospital; Levine
Children's Hospital; Medical University of South Carolina; National
Cancer Institute; Rady Children's Hospital San Diego; UCSD School
of Medicine and the University of Hawaii Cancer Center.
NOTE TO MEDICAL CENTERS: Virtual Media Briefing is
scheduled for Nov. 10, 10:30 am ET, at
www.dell.com/healthpress.
Media Contacts:
Cathie Hargett
Dell Inc.
512-750-0996
[email protected]
Galen Perry
TGen
602-377-4734
[email protected]
Steve Yozwiak
TGen
602-343-8704
[email protected]
Kelly Gorychka
Axicom
512-691-0383
[email protected]
- Compared with TGen's existing Clinical Cluster
Dell is a trademark of Dell Inc. Dell disclaims any proprietary
interest in the marks and names of others.
