Wake Forest. US: After
a year in development, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center today
announced a new Precision Medicine program at its National Cancer Institute-designated
Comprehensive Cancer Center. Precision medicine
was introduced to the nation during President Obama’s State of the Union address
in January. He called the novel therapy “a bold new effort to revolutionize how
we improve health and treat disease.”
Precision
medicine uses a person’s unique genetic makeup to develop an individualized treatment
plan that targets cancer cells. Oncologists look at the cancer-associated genes
in a person’s tumor, called genomic sequencing, to pinpoint the person’s genetic
drivers that fuel cancer growth. Then a unique treatment plan is designed
around the genetic abnormalities and mutations in the person’s tumor.
“This is an exciting time for us,” said Boris Pasche, M.D., director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center. “We have developed one of the most
comprehensive, coordinated efforts around precision medicine. Some of our adult and pediatric patients could
greatly benefit from unique therapies in cases that are not responding to
standard treatments.
“As the only Comprehensive Cancer Center in
western North Carolina, we have access to therapies that other facilities do
not. Genomic sequencing also means our patients can be better matched to
existing and new clinical trials.”
Precision
medicine treatments are ideal for patients with either end-stage cancer, an
active cancer that has failed standard treatment, or cancer that is likely to
progress despite standard therapies.
The
most common cancers for which genomic sequencing is available are: metastatic
breast cancer, metastatic colon cancer, lung cancer not successfully removed by
surgery, esophageal cancer, abdominal cancers (pancreatic, appendiceal and
stomach), advanced prostate cancer, metastatic melanoma, and leukemia.
Precision
medicine is not for every cancer patient. Although the goal is to match each
patient with the most effective treatment, some patients may have cancer with a
genetic makeup for which there is no current appropriate precision medicine therapy.
While
precision medicine may be an effective alternative to standard chemotherapy, it
is not necessarily a stand-alone cure. The goal, Pasche says, is to select the
most appropriate therapy for each patient’s cancer so they have the potential
of improved health or a longer life.
Precision
medicine treatments are covered by some insurance companies and government payers
on a case-by-case basis. Nationally, more third-party payers are seeing the
value of this treatment option for patients with end-stage cancer because it
often offers a therapy that may cost less than re-hospitalization.
For more information about the Precision Medicine
program at Wake Forest Baptist, go to http://www.wakehealth.edu/Genomics/.