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Author(s):
Lindsay Frazier, MD, institute physician, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, associate professor of pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, discusses the Malignant Germ Cell International Consortium (MaGIC) in pediatric and rare tumors.
Lindsay Frazier, MD, institute physician, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, associate professor of pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, discusses the Malignant Germ Cell International Consortium (MaGIC) in pediatric and rare tumors.
MaGIC consists of the world’s leading experts in pediatric oncology, gynecologic oncology, and testicular cancer. Frazier says that all these practitioners are working together to advance the science behind germ cell tumors, and create better clinical trials for patients in these populations. The group has collected past clinical trial data in a common database to analyze and determine what questions should be addressed in future clinical trials, says Fraizer.
One of the first things that MaGIC achieved was reaching a consensus on risk of recurrence. Fraizer says that these various experts were able to have a discussion to clarify what patients are at risk for recurrence, and decide when therapy should be intensified or reduced. In the 8 years that the MaGIC Consortium has been together, they have successfully initiated 3 NCI-funded international clinical trials for patients between the ages of 0 and 50 years.