Dr. Patrick Grohar Receives Stand Up to Cancer Catalyst Award

Dr. Patrick Grohar, Director of Translational Research in the Center for Childhood Cancer Research at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), is a recipient of a grant from Stand Up To Cancer^® (SU2C). With support from Jazz Pharmaceuticals, the grant will fund a SU2C Catalyst^® Research Team led by Dr. Grohar; the team will investigate new, targeted treatments for patients 10 years and older with Ewing sarcoma.

Ewing sarcoma is the second most common cancerous bone tumor affecting children, adolescents and young adults. Approximately 250 cases are diagnosed each year in the United States. The disease is most commonly diagnosed in teenage patients, with a poor overall survival of only 55%, and overall survival for patients with relapsed disease of less than 20%.

Researchers have yet to identify an effective targeted treatment for Ewing sarcoma, but multiple studies have shown Ewing sarcoma is dependent on the protein EWS-FLI1, which provides a target for potential treatments. The SU2C Catalyst LiFFT Study, led by Dr. Grohar and colleagues from Penn Medicine, will investigate a compound called lurbinectedin, exclusively licensed by Jazz Pharmaceuticals in the United States and Canada, which Dr. Grohar’s lab has shown to target and inhibit the EWS-FLI1 protein.

Learn more in this SU2C press release.