New Hope for Young Patients: Global Consortium Unveils Child-First Cancer Therapies

LONDON, UK – March 10, 2026 – A new international consortium is challenging the long-standing and often brutal practice of treating childhood cancer with scaled-down adult therapies. C-Further, a global initiative backed by major research charities and academic powerhouses, has unveiled its first two therapeutic programs, CF-012 and CF-033. These programs are dedicated to developing novel, tailored treatments for some of the most aggressive pediatric cancers, marking a significant step towards a future where young patients receive therapies designed specifically for their developing bodies.

A Paradigm Shift Beyond Adult Therapies

For decades, the standard of care for children with cancer has involved repurposing drugs originally designed for adults. While this approach has led to some successes, it comes at a high cost. The aggressive chemotherapy and radiation that adult bodies can barely withstand wreak havoc on developing children, often leading to severe, life-long side effects, including developmental issues, organ damage, and secondary cancers. The rarity of pediatric cancers and the unique biological differences from adult malignancies have historically created a challenging environment for drug development, leaving a profound unmet need.

C-Further aims to break this cycle by fostering a new ecosystem focused entirely on pediatric needs. “Guided by an indication-agnostic but child-first approach, we believe the initial CF-012 and CF-033 programmes have the potential to address a profound unmet need across multiple children’s cancers,” said Dr. Lone Friis, C-Further Programme Co-lead. This “child-first” philosophy is the cornerstone of the consortium's mission, acknowledging that therapies must be built from the ground up with a child's physiology and future quality of life in mind. By directly funding and supporting early-stage, high-risk research, the initiative seeks to fill a critical gap that commercial markets have often overlooked.

The Science of Hope: Two Novel Approaches

The consortium's initial $40 million (£30 million) budget will fuel two highly promising, distinct therapeutic strategies, each targeting the fundamental mechanisms driving these devastating diseases.

CF-012: Disarming Ewing Sarcoma

The first program, CF-012, takes aim at Ewing sarcoma, a rare and aggressive bone tumor that most often strikes adolescents and young adults, particularly when it has relapsed or metastasized. In collaboration with leading investigators at UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Mass General Brigham, C-Further is advancing a potential first-in-class inhibitor. This drug targets a protein called ETV6, a “transcriptional dependency” that researchers have identified as critical for the tumor's growth and ability to spread. By developing a precise molecule to block ETV6, the therapy aims to disrupt the cancer's core machinery with potentially fewer side effects than blunt-force chemotherapy. This strategy represents a shift toward more intelligent, targeted drug design for pediatric cancers.

“Children and young people have historically lacked effective, targeted cancer treatments and CF-012 has the potential to address an urgent unmet need in relapsed and metastatic Ewing sarcoma,” explained Dr. John Bushweller, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and a key investigator for the program. “With C-Further's collaborative, child-first drug discovery model, we believe we have the power to bring these medicines to market.”

CF-033: A Living Drug for Multiple Cancers

The second program, CF-033, represents a cutting-edge approach in immunotherapy. Developed with MiNK Therapeutics and translational support from the University of Southampton, it is a potential first-in-class allogeneic cell therapy designed to treat multiple children's cancers, including bone sarcoma, medulloblastoma, and acute myeloid leukemia. This “living drug” uses special immune cells called invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells, engineered to recognize a protein called PRAME. PRAME is an ideal target as it is highly expressed on many cancer cells but largely absent from healthy tissue.

Unlike personalized cell therapies like CAR-T, which require using a patient's own cells, CF-033 is “allogeneic” or “off-the-shelf,” manufactured in advance from healthy donors. Critically, it is designed to be effective without requiring toxic lymphodepletion—the harsh chemotherapy used to wipe out a patient's immune system before infusion. “This approach is designed to be delivered without the need for HLA matching or toxic lymphodepletion, which is particularly meaningful for this vulnerable paediatric population,” stated Dr. Marco Purbhoo, Head of Translational Medicine at MiNK Therapeutics. This could mean faster, safer, and more accessible treatment for critically ill children.

The Collaborative Powerhouse Fueling Discovery

The ambition of C-Further's mission is matched by the strength of its unique collaborative model. The consortium acts as an innovation ecosystem, bridging the notorious “valley of death” in drug development where promising academic discoveries often languish for lack of funding and industry-level expertise. Core partners Cancer Research Horizons, the medical research charity LifeArc, and Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity (GOSH Charity) provide the financial backing and strategic oversight. They bring decades of experience in drug discovery and a deep commitment to pediatric health.

This structure allows C-Further to de-risk early-stage projects, supporting them through the crucial preclinical phase to make them viable candidates for larger-scale development and investment. By uniting top academic minds from institutions like UVA and the University of Southampton with innovative biotech firms like MiNK Therapeutics, the consortium creates a powerful synergy that accelerates the path from the laboratory bench to the patient's bedside. This international, cross-sector partnership is essential for tackling rare diseases where no single institution has all the necessary resources or expertise.

The launch of CF-012 and CF-033 is just the beginning. C-Further has already commenced preliminary work on a third, undisclosed project and plans to announce additional programs in 2026. The consortium has also issued an open call for expressions of interest from researchers and innovators worldwide, with a deadline of March 13, 2026, for the next round of submissions. This ongoing effort signals a sustained commitment to building a robust pipeline of therapies that could one day transform the prognosis for children diagnosed with cancer, offering them not just a chance at survival, but a future with a higher quality of life.