Innovative Researcher Awarded CureSearch Catapult Award

CureSearch proudly announced our inaugural Catapult Award recipient - Dr. Ranjit Bindra of the Yale Cancer Center. The CureSearch Catapult Awards are designed to propel high-potential pediatric cancer treatments through clinical trials and to our young patients, helping them lead long, healthy lives. This nearly $1 million grant will fund a phase 1 clinical trial testing a novel treatment for pediatric glioma, an aggressive brain cancer with a 5-year survival rate of less than 25%.

With a goal to improve long-term survival rates and overall quality of life, this exciting new trial could create a shift in current treatment standards. Dr. Bindra’s study will test a novel drug for pediatric patients who have a specific subtype of glioma called an IDH1/2 mutation. The drug will make the cancer more sensitive to chemotherapy, allowing the patient to receive lower doses of chemo – which would ultimately reduce damaging long-term side effects that are common with pediatric glioma patients.  

The study will help children like Camryn Saal, who was diagnosed with brain cancer at just 7-years-old. Camryn survived but at the time, she had only a 20 percent chance of survival – a percentage that Dr. Bindra hopes to significantly increase through his research. This grant will provide families like the Saals with the hope that their children too will survive this terrible disease.

“There was an 80% chance our daughter was not going to make it through her battle. No child should face those odds. This funding provides hope that we can prevent families from dealing with the struggles our family dealt with Camryn’s diagnosis,” said Andrew Saal, Camryn’s father.