Personalized Medicine

Philadelphia, PA—The age of personalized cancer therapies is upon us. In oncology, personalized medicine encompasses the use of tests to determine the genes and gene interactions that can reliably predict an individual’s response to therapy or the chance of disease recurrence.

Philadelphia, PA—The field of oncology stands to benefit greatly from molecular diagnostic trends, according to Jane F. Barlow, MD, MPH, MBA, Vice President, Clinical Innovation, Medco Health Solutions, who offered a pharmacy benefit manager’s (PBM) perspective of the role of diagnostics, including the use of companion tests in drug development. These companion tests will represent another potential expenditure and coverage decision for PBM companies.

Concerns about the future of cancer research exist among the spectrum of researchers and regulators, and in remarks prepared for the President’s Cancer Panel: The Future of Cancer Research—Accelerating Scientific Innovation (held September 22, 2010, in Boston), American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) President George W. Sledge, Jr, MD, outlined some of the organization’s concerns regarding new biological therapies and the future of cancer research.

Clinical cancer research is hampered by an overly complex and cautious regulatory system, which slows the development of lifesaving drugs, increases costs, and may be unethical, according to David J. Stewart,MD, of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and colleagues (Stewart DJ, et al. Equipoise lost: ethics, costs, and the regulation of cancer clinical research. J Clin Oncol. 2010;28:2925-2935).

The floodgate has opened for molecularly targeted antitumor agents, and with each novel compound the cost of treating cancer soars ever higher.

A new study suggests that removing financial incentives for screening for cervical cancer, diabetic retinopathy, and hypertension and diabetes control reduces performance, including screening rates. The study was published online in May in the British Medical Journal (2010;340:c1898).