Almost a quarter of patients with advanced cancer treated in US Comprehensive Cancer Care Network centres are now receiving gene-specific drugs matched to DNA mutations in their tumours, showing that precision medicine is spreading from specialised cancer units to a greater variety of health care centres and more patients. Medical Oncologist Dr Alvarez, of Cancer Treatment Centers of America, said the results of large-scale tumour profiling could increasingly match patients in community settings where most were treated. He said the proportion of patients so treated could grow to half and that the next step was to see the effects targeted treatment had on quality of life.
Almost a quarter of patients with advanced cancer treated in US Comprehensive Cancer Care Network centres are now receiving gene-specific drugs matched to DNA mutations in their tumours, showing that precision medicine is spreading from specialised cancer units to a greater variety of health care centres and more patients. Medical Oncologist Dr Ricardo Alvarez, of Cancer Treatment Centers of America, said the results of large-scale tumour profiling could increasingly match patients in community settings where most were treated. He said the proportion of patients so treated could grow to half and that the next step was to see the effects targeted treatment had on quality of life.