Gene-focused cancer treatment improves survival
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Stephen Huff of Australia received a stage 4 lung cancer diagnosis, but benefited from a new testing method that identifies specific genetic mutations driving tumors.
Rather than treating cancer by location, like lung or bowel, doctors are increasingly focused on the genes causing the disease, allowing them to use targeted drugs acting like “guided missiles.” Huff underwent comprehensive genomic profiling which revealed an alteration in his ALK gene, making him eligible for the drug alectinib, which dramatically reduced his tumors.
This precision oncology approach is extending the lives of people with cancers once considered fatal, including lung, pancreatic, and brain cancers. Researchers at the University of New South Wales in Sydney launched a trial enrolling nearly 4000 patients with advanced cancers. They found that over a third of participants had genetic changes allowing them to receive targeted drugs, and these patients lived almost twice as long as those without matched treatments.
Australia has now implemented a nationwide program offering free genomic profiling and tailored treatment recommendations. Similar initiatives are emerging in countries like Japan and Germany. While the US relies on a patchwork of programs, and the UK currently reports results for only a limited number of genes, the field is rapidly advancing, with new drugs like daraxonrasib and vorasidenib showing promise, and programs like Zero Childhood Cancer aiming to eliminate pediatric cancer deaths altogether.
