Precision Medicine in Oncology

In order for precision oncology to be fruitful and to be effective, we need interoperability and we need to be able to share patient data, said James Lin Chen, MD, Ohio State University, and chair of ASCO CancerLinQ Oncology Informatics Task Force.

After a decade of analyzing over 11,000 tumors from 33 types of cancer, the collaboration between the National Cancer Institute and National Human Genome Research Institute has launched the Pan-Cancer Atlas, providing a comprehensive understanding of 3 focus areas: cell-of-origin patterns, oncogenic processes, and signaling pathways.

Precision Health AI has launched Eureka Health, a platform that leverages electronic medical record data to provide artificial intelligence through more than 60 pretrained and learning-enhanced modules designed specifically for oncology.

Recent study results showed larotrectinib was effective in patients with tropomyosin receptor kinase fusion-positive cancer, regardless of the age of the patient or the tumor type. In addition to implications for the treatment of genetic alterations across tumor types, these study results underscore the importance of molecular profiling of tumors, through which patients were identified for the studies, on ensuring precision medicine is used in practice while simultaneously providing a cost-effective tool.

With the dramatic shift toward precision medicine in cancer care, health systems, pharmaceutical companies and technology companies should ensure that the oncologist is at the center of their strategy.

Syapse, a leading precision medicine company, and Roche have joined forces to advance precision medicine in oncology. They will work together to bring real-world data to providers, bring oncology into the value-based care era, advance patient-reported outcomes, and optimize clinical trial recruiment.

A new paper in JCO Precision Oncology evaluated the impact of the support provided by a decision support team on clinical decision making and trial enrollment.

A new liquid biopsy test that uses flow cytometry to detect cancer cells has been FDA approved for chronic leukemia, acute leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, myeloma, myelodysplastic syndrome, and myeloproliferative neoplasms.

In oncology, the shift from a "companion diagnostic" to a "companion therapeutic" paradigm is in high gear. While the noise and confusion is leading many payers to avoid coverage, they can benefit by proactively taking steps to integrate precision oncology to better manage quality, access, and cost of cancer care.