Why Early Research Matters: Rally’s Role in Advancing Neuroblastoma Care

In 2020 and 2023, Smita Matkar, Ph.D., at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) received early research funding from Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research. That support opened the door to study a hopeful idea. Could a type of targeted medicine, called an ALK inhibitor, help children with neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nervous system? 

Dr. Matkar studied a newer ALK inhibitor called lorlatinib. She found that it worked better than older FDA approved medicines like crizotinib. Her team’s results were published in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. 

Because of earlier work and the new discoveries supported by Rally Foundation, lorlatinib moved into a Phase 1 clinical trial for children with relapsed or hard to treat neuroblastoma. The trial, led by Yael Mosse, M.D., at CHOP, showed promising results published in Nature Medicine. 

Rally’s early support also changed Dr. Matkar’s career. It helped her grow into a senior scientist who now guides research, mentors others and helps move new treatments from the lab into clinical trials. 

This is why early-stage research funding matters.

This is the power of philanthropic seed investing.

This is Rally.