CCTR interviews Raphael Rousseau MD, PhD,the global franchise head of the innovative pediatric drug development group at Genentech. Considered the founder of the biotech industry, Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, has headquarters in South San Francisco, California. Genentech has been delivering on the promise of biotechnology for over 40 years, and oversees Roche’s pediatric strategy and ensures optimized implementation of pediatric clinical development plans across the company’s oncology portfolio.
Dr. Rousseau explains the innovative Pediatric Oncology Drug Development (iPODD) group and the iMATRIX protocol, which pairs medicines with their known molecular targets, regardless of the cancer type. Matching approved and investigational medicines by their mechanism of action expands the number of eligible pediatric trial participants. iMATRIX also invites collaboration within the industry for trial patients and opens up previously untested avenues for currently existing as well as new investigational therapies. The hope is that this approach will ultimately generate more robust clinical data and efficiency, and help researchers may accelerate the development of promising medicines for children.
