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Innovative Therapeutics Program

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If your child’s condition is difficult to cure or does not respond to traditional therapies, we are ready and prepared to offer new techniques and clinical trials, providing the skill and experience necessary to treat the most complex cases. Our team of innovative therapeutics specialists is dedicated to research and improving your child’s health. Innovative therapeutics is the study and development of new medicines and treatments that are more effective and less harmful to the body. These new therapies can target specific types of tumors and can be designed for your child’s own genetic make-up. Thanks to our team your child can receive advanced, next-level care right here at Arkansas Children’s, without the need to travel elsewhere.

We partner with national and international groups to study and share the latest cutting-edge treatments for many conditions. Our innovative program provides special care to children with complicated or unusual conditions.

Possible Conditions

  • Bone tumors and other sarcomas
  • Brain tumors
  • Leukemias
  • Lymphomas
  • Neuroblastoma
  • Neurofibromatosis-related tumors

If your child is already a patient at Arkansas Children’s we have all of the information and paperwork needed to determine if he or she is a candidate for our innovative therapeutics program.

If your child is referred to us, our experts will determine if there is a therapy or clinical trial that can help your child. If there is, then we will study your child’s case to make sure there is nothing in his or her medical history that would exclude him or her from participating.

When our innovative therapeutics program is not a fit, we will work with you to find a medical center that makes sense for your child’s specific condition.

Share Your Child’s Information With Us

To help us determine if your child can take part in a clinical trial through our Innovative Therapeutics Program you will need to send the materials listed on the Required Medical Records Checklist (as applicable).

The materials needed are:

Clinical Summary

  • Please do not send the entire medical record
  • Send a detailed summary of the patient’s presenting history and treatment to date
  • Include history of any allergies, including IV contrast
  • Include a complete list of medications (prescription, over the counter, herbal and supplements)
  • Performance Score

Radiological Films (CT, MRI)

  • Submit imaging studies in CD-ROM format
  • Submit corresponding Radiology report(s)

Operative Note(s) to include date(s) and type(s) of all surgical procedure(s)

  • Pathology Report(s)
  • Chemotherapy Summary including protocol number or doses of each agent, number of cycles, treatment flow sheets/roadmaps
  • Radiation Therapy Summary including modality, total dose, fractionation, and fields
  • Lab Results including CBC, CMP, PT/PTT, LFTs

You can mail, email or fax your child’s medical records to us.

Please send them to:

Catherine Redinger, RN

Email: RedingerCatherineL@uams.edu

Fax: 501-364-3634

ATTN: Catherine Redinger, RN – Nurse Coordinator Innovative Therapeutics Team

Please call the office before faxing: 501-364-4290

Mail all SCANS (on CDs) and above materials to:

Dr. Kevin Bielamowicz

Department of Hematology/Oncology

Arkansas Children’s Hospital

1 Children’s Way – Slot 512-10

Little Rock, AR 72202

  • When mailing, please send materials by FedEX or UPS for fastest delivery.
  • Be sure to obtain a shipping tracking number. Please send the tracking number to us by email or phone.

If you have any questions regarding the above information and instructions, please contact our office. Call 501-364-4290, Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Meet the Team

At Arkansas Children’s, our highly skilled innovative therapeutics medical team are members of: 

Locations

To make an appointment or contact us, please call our Nurse Coordinator at 501-364-4290. 

Possible Treatments

We offer innovative therapeutics for patients with a poor prognosis when they are first diagnosed and advanced and recurring tumors or those that do not respond to initial treatments. We offer different types of innovative therapeutics, which are used to customize treatment plans based on each patient's unique disease and genetic makeup.

  • Immunotherapy trials - Utilizing a patient's own immune system to help fight cancer.  This can be with immune checkpoint inhibitors, vaccine treatments, antibody treatments among other methods.
  • Personalized medicine (also called molecular profiling) - Identifying changes in genes and expression of genes that are altered in cancer cells and using therapies that target these specific changes.
  • Targeted agents - Treatments that kill cancer cells by targeted specific changes in the genes or gene expression of the cancer cells.
  • Early phase drug trials - Clinical trials aim to improve survival duration and quality for patients, often for the cancers which are most difficult to cure. 

Arkansas Children’s, we are connected to international networks of researchers studying and developing the latest medical therapies. In many cases, we can provide treatments to your child right here on campus. In some cases, we may connect your child to developing treatments based at a partner medical center.

  • Ewing Sarcoma at First Relapse sponsored by Gardalis – A Multi-Center Phase 3, Randomized, Open-Label Trial of Vigil (bi-shRNAfurin and GMCSF Augmented Autologous Tumor Cell Immunotherapy) in combination with Irinotecan and Temozolomide as a Second-Line Regimen for Ewing Sarcoma
  • High-Risk Neuroblastoma at Initial Diagnosis sponsored by The Beat Childhood Cancer Consortium - PEDS-PLAN (Pediatric Precision Laboratory Advanced Neuroblastoma Therapy) A Study Using Molecular Guided Therapy with Induction Chemotherapy followed by a Randomized Controlled Trial of standard immunotherapy with or without DFMO followed by DFMO maintenance for Subjects with Newly Diagnosed High-Risk Neuroblastoma
  • Relapsed or Refractory Solid Tumors and Leukemia sponsored by Pediatric Oncology Experimental Therapeutics Investigators' Consortium (POETIC) -  A phase I study of carfilzomib in combination with cyclophosphamide and etoposide for children with relapsed and refractory solid tumors and leukemias
  • High-Risk Hodgkin’s Lymphoma at Initial Diagnosis sponsored by Takeda - An Open-Label Study of Brentuximab Vedotin+Adriamycin, Vinblastine, and Dacarbazine in Pediatric Patients With Advanced Stage Newly Diagnosed Hodgkin Lymphoma
  • Relapsed, Refractory, or Treatment-Naïve Severe Aplastic Anemia sponsored by Novartis -  A phase II, open-label, non-controlled, intra-patient dose escalation study to characterize the pharmacokinetics after oral administration of eltrombopag in pediatric patients with refractory, relapsed or treatment naïve severe aplastic anemia or recurrent aplastic anemia
  • Neuroblastoma in First Remission sponsored by The Beat Childhood Cancer Consortium - NMTT- Neuroblastoma Maintenance Therapy Trial Using Difluoromethylornithine (DFMO)
  • The pan-ERBB inhibitor Neratinib in Previously Treated Solid and Brain Tumors sponsored by Pediatric Oncology Experimental Therapeutics Investigators' Consortium (POETIC) – a Phase I Study for recurrent or refractory solid and brain tumors including:
  • MEK Inhibitor Cobimetnib in Previously Treated Solid Tumors (Study G029665) sponsored by Pediatric Oncology Experimental Therapeutics Investigators' Consortium (POETIC) – a Phase 2 Study for Low-Grade Gliomas

Children Have More Options for Life-Saving Cancer Treatment Close to Home
Arkansas Children’s Hospital offers families battling rare pediatric cancers access to several clinical trials. The state’s only pediatric neuro-oncologist, Dr. Kevin Bielamowicz, talks with KATV about the ways Arkansas Children’s is creating hope for children with hard-to-treat cancers.

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