Precision Medicine is hot topic at ASCO

CHICAGO: A precision medicine approach using a patient’s individual tumor biomarkers to determine the best treatment leads to significantly better outcomes, according to data being presented at this year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting.

A meta-analysis of 346 Phase I clinical trials involving more than 13,000 patients found that patients whose treatment was selected based on the molecular characteristics of their tumor benefited more.

The study was carried out by researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. Lead study author, Maria Schwaederle, from the university’s personalized cancer therapy unit, said: “Our study suggests that, with a precision medicine approach, we can use a patient’s individual tumor biomarkers to determine whether they are likely to benefit from a particular therapy, even when the therapy is at the earliest stage of clinical development.