How precision oncology is improving care for patients with advanced-stage cancer
Recent advancements in testing and treatment are providing greater hope for patients. Precision oncology, or personalizing cancer treatment to each individual, is helping doctors optimize care for patients across all stages of the disease.
For patients with advanced-stage cancer, precision oncology has made a radical difference over the past decade in improving outcomes across cancer types, including lung, breast, colorectal, and prostate. Precision medicine, also known as targeted therapy or personalized medicine, uses drugs to target the specific genes and proteins, also known as biomarkers, that are causing a person’s cancer cells to grow. This personalized, biomarker-informed approach can improve progression-free survival with fewer side effects than traditional one-size-fits-all chemotherapy or immunotherapy.1
In order to identify these targetable biomarkers and determine if there is an appropriate therapy or clinical trial, it is necessary that doctors perform complete genomic testing (also known as comprehensive genomic profiling, biomarker testing, or molecular profiling). Performing genomic testing using a blood test does not require tissue testing, enabling potentially more patients to be matched with targeted therapies.
Click the button below to find out more about testing for advanced-stage cancer.
