Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday backed his commitment to pediatric cancer research in Florida with grants of $7.5 million annually to four specialty children's hospitals over the next five years.
The money is going to Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Nemours Children's Hospital in Orlando, Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami and Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville.
DeSantis said the award "for their innovative proposals" comes through the state's new Cancer Connect Collaborative Research Incubator program, from $30 million allocated through the 2025-26 budget.
At an announcement in Jacksonville, DeSantis said the program will boost investment in research, recruitment of researchers and physicians and expand access to care. He and first lady Casey DeSantis touted the incubator grants in July.
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The initiative will focus on sharing data, advancing treatments and expanding access to clinical trials, the governor said.
"By investing in statewide infrastructure for pediatric cancer initiatives, we aim to eliminate the need for Florida families to travel out of state for potentially lifesaving experimental therapies and specialized care," DeSantis said.
Dr. Cassandra Josephson, director of the Cancer and Blood Disorders Institute at All Children's, said the investment will create collaboration that will save lives.
"Pediatric cancer usually gets little nuggets here and there of money, but it's just never enough to push. But now it's going to be able to accelerate many different areas," she said.
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She also highlighted the importance of tailoring research to different age groups, which requires dedication and commitment to funding.
"That's one of the hardest parts about cancer in children. It's really a lot of different, small populations," Josephson said. "Those different types of cancers hit different age groups in pediatrics differently. They actually make some of the cancers—like a leukemia that might hit a young adolescent—be a high-risk tumor, where it's not so high-risk in a younger age.
"We do need more money to understand what is applicable from what we've learned from adults and what is actually just so unique about children that we can't learn from adults and we need to put in."
At All Children's, the grant will support clinical trials, RNA research, immuno-oncology studies and CAR T-cell therapy development, she said. (CAR T-cell therapy — short for Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell therapy — is a type of immunotherapy that helps the body's immune system fight cancer.)
Josephson also emphasized All Children's will work to leverage resources statewide.
"We would love to collaborate with the other hospitals on many of these adventures … to move the science forward, that moves the cures forward," she said.
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During the past 15 years, there has been a push to learn more about pediatric cancer, its incidence rate and the effect cancer may have during the different periods of childhood.
"This truly is a transformative infusion of support from the Florida government recognizing what we can do in terms of escalating treatment for pediatric cancer," said Mark Toney, Wolfson's vice president of medical affairs. "The apportionment over five years allows us to strategically think about how to build a model of care that is second to none."
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