How Cancer Research Horizons is building the future of childhood cancer medicines

Cancer is still the leading cause of death by disease in children and young people — yet in the last twenty years, only a handful of drugs have been approved specifically to treat it. Most paediatric cancer treatments are simply adult drugs, repurposed, often at real long-term cost to the children who survive. Today's guest is working to change that, and much more besides. Tony Hickson is Chief Business Officer for Cancer Research Horizons, Cancer Research UK's innovation engine, responsible for turning early-stage science into new treatments, diagnostics, and start-up companies. Tony's career spans big pharma, university tech transfer, and now the translational front line of cancer research, and he's helped build dozens of spinouts along the way. We'll talk about why charity and pharma need each other more than ever, and about C-Further, a bold new push to finally build medicines made for children, not borrowed from adults.01:25 Meet Tony Hickson05:21 What sets Cancer Research Horizons apart from tech transfer offices12:17 Myrix Bio's exit to Novartis, a standout story15:54 Can patient benefit and commercial success align28:53 Inside C-Further's first two therapeutic programs41:19 How researchers and partners can get involvedInterested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here! Stay updated by subscribing to our newsletterTo dive deeper into the topic: Episode 32: Cancer Research Horizons, Enterome, OncoHost, TrakCel, TurbineCancer Research UK Deploys €700M to Foster Oncology StartupsCancer vaccines: 11 biotechs to keep an eye out for