LOS ANGELES, April 12, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- The University of Southern California and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles have received an anonymous gift of $15 million to establish the USC-CHLA Institute for Pediatric Clinical Research at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles to conduct research on pediatric illness and disease, with a particular emphasis on clinical trials, according to a joint announcement by USC President Steven B. Sample and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles President and CEO Walter W. Noce, Jr.
The USC-CHLA Institute for Pediatric Clinical Research will combine resources from both the Keck School of Medicine of USC and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles to establish the most active and productive pediatric clinical trials program in the United States. Its program will be designed to find the best means to diagnose, treat and prevent pediatric disease and to promote child and adolescent health.
"The USC-CHLA Institute for Pediatric Clinical Research is a manifestation of the shared goals and vision of USC and Childrens Hospital to create a truly world-class organization in this area of great need," said Dr. Sample. "By combining our institutions' strengths and resources, we are confident that we can make a significant impact on childhood diseases by finding breakthrough treatments and cures." The co-principal investigators of the USC-CHLA Institute for Pediatric Clinical Research will be Roberta G. Williams, M.D., professor and chair of pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, and vice president for pediatrics and academic affairs at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles; and Stuart E. Siegel, M.D., professor and vice chair of pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, and head of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and director of the Childrens Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases.
"We intend to make the Institute a global leader in pediatric clinical research," Dr. Williams said, adding that, "We are integrating the very best of the research community at both the Keck School of Medicine and Childrens Hospital in order to develop and support the most effective pediatric clinical trials program anywhere."
"Finding and understanding the mechanisms of childhood diseases, like cancer, is the key to early prevention and treatment of adult diseases," said Dr. Siegel. "This Institute has enormous potential to enhance the well-being of children, as well as significantly contribute to adult medicine."
The initial research focus of the USC-CHLA Institute for Pediatric Clinical Research will be on childhood leukemias, building on the work of the Developmental Therapeutics Program at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, considered one of the most active and productive investigative groups in the world in "...moving..." new therapies from the laboratory into clinical trials for children with cancer. This area of the Institute's work will be under the direction of C. Patrick Reynolds, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pediatrics and pathology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and head of the developmental therapeutics section of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Childrens Hospital.
"The scope of the research possible within this new structure will fill existing voids in translational/clinical research in pediatrics," Reynolds said, adding that "...the various drugs and therapies for treating childhood cancer under development by (our) investigators, if successful, will bring new approaches from the laboratory into clinical practice for the benefit of children everywhere."
Mr. Noce said that the Pediatric Research Equity Act of 2003 addresses the need to properly assess drug and product safety and effectiveness in the pediatric population. The bill, widely known as the "Pediatric Rule," amends the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to authorize the Food and Drug Administration to require certain research into drugs used in pediatric patients. It was sponsored by Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Mike DeWine (D-OH), Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT), Bill Frist (R-TN), Judd Gregg (R-NH), Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and Patty Murray (D-WA) and enjoyed bipartisan support throughout the Congressional approval process. It was signed by President Bush on Dec. 3, 2003.
"We know that children are not small adults and their bodies react to medicine differently than adults," Mr. Noce said, adding that pediatricians uniformly agree that the lack of formal drug testing in children has been and continues to be a problem. "Our commitment at Childrens Hospital is not only to provide the best possible care available to children today, but also to find the best means to diagnose, treat and prevent pediatric diseases and to promote child and adolescent health tomorrow."
Keck School of Medicine Dean Steven J. Ryan said that "...improving the health of children has significant benefits, both societal and financial, for children, their families, the community and the nation," adding that "...carefully-controlled studies can, and will, ensure that the very best, most effective and safest therapies can be found to treat children throughout America -- to the benefit of children throughout the world."
He said that the generosity of the anonymous donor will not only "...encourage and support these important studies, but will facilitate the ability of these investigators to seek and obtain continuing support from other sources, including the National Institutes of Health," which will "...amplify and expand the new Institute's existing resources."
The USC-CHLA Institute for Pediatric Clinical Research will operate as a freestanding organization under the auspices of an independent board of directors, which will represent both the Keck School of Medicine of USC and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.
The clinical research conducted at the USC-CHLA Institute for Pediatric Clinical Research will complement the significant basic and clinical research under way at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and The Saban Research Institute of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.
Scientists at The Saban Research Institute are engaged in seeking new therapeutic approaches to childhood cancer, in finding ways to correct the function of abnormal genes through a combination of gene therapy and cell therapy and in seeking insight into the molecular control of organ development. Other areas of investigation include advancing research in tissue engineering, harnessing the power of digital imaging to provide better ways to monitor the benefits of new therapies and seeking new ways to prevent and manage diabetes.
The Saban Research Institute also is engaged in new scientific initiatives that will probe the functions of the brain to address the most vexing pediatric brain diseases and injuries, as well as studies that target the child, the family and the community to ensure that children grow and mature into healthy, productive adults.
The USC-CHLA Institute for Pediatric Clinical Research also will benefit from the support of world-class research programs in cancer, diabetes and transplantation at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
According to Dr. Williams, diseases that afflict children historically have received neither the attention nor the funding of the more common adult diseases.
"The good news is that there is currently increased interest at the National Institutes of Health and Federal Drug Administration to fund both clinical and basic pediatric research," she said.
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles received more than $28.9 million in extramural funding for biomedical research in FY '03, including more than $22.8 million from federal sources -- such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Defense.
Founded in 1885, the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California is a major center for basic and clinical biomedical research, especially in the field of cancer, gene therapy, the neurosciences and metabolic disease. In FY '03, overall research funding at the Keck School of Medicine and its affiliates, including Childrens Hospital, was more than $148 million. The Keck School has more than 1,100 full-time faculty members and a voluntary faculty of more than 3,700 physicians. These faculty direct the studies of more than 650 medical students and more than 400 students pursuing graduate degrees. Its postgraduate programs provide training for more than 1,300 residents, fellows and interns annually. Through 14 affiliated hospitals, USC physicians serve more than one million patients each year.
Founded in 1901, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles has been treating the most seriously ill and injured children in Los Angeles for more than a century, and it is acknowledged throughout the United States and around the world for its leadership in pediatric and adolescent health. Childrens Hospital is one of America's premier teaching hospitals, training more young pediatricians than any other health care facility in California through its association with the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
Since 1990, U.S. News & World Report and its panel of board-certified pediatricians have named Childrens Hospital Los Angeles one of the top pediatric facilities in the nation.
Visit our website: www.ChildrensHospitalLA.org