New Data Presented at the 2014 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Conference Shows Improved Outcomes for Cancer Patients Receiving Treatments Guided by Comprehensive Tumour Profiling
BASEL, Switzerland, June 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
Data from more than 30 clinical studies presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting reinforce comprehensive tumour profiling as a 'game changer' for oncologists, enabling them to personalise cancer treatments more precisely than ever before.
The studies, conducted by Caris Life Sciences in cooperation with leading academic and clinical institutions, focused on treatment-resistant, rare or aggressive cancers where patients have limited treatment options.
The comprehensive tumour profiling service used in the studies measures a broad range of cancer "biomarkers" (proteins, genes or other molecules that affect how cancer cells grow, multiply and respond to therapies) and interprets the results to identify treatments most likely to be of benefit and help eliminate those that are not likely to benefit the patient. The results allow oncologists to better determine appropriate treatments for each patient, based on the individual makeup of their cancer rather than the site of the tumour.
Data from earlier studies show that comprehensive tumour profiling consistently identifies biomarkers linked to specific treatments in over 90% of patients[1], and that clinicians change their intended treatment decision based on profiling results in over 80% of cases[2]. Across a range of cancer types, tumour profiling-guided treatment has been shown to benefit patients[3] and improve outcomes when compared to unguided treatment[4]. The ASCO data demonstrate that for many solid tumour cancer patients who have run out of options, comprehensive tumour profiling consistently offers oncologists actionable insights to help choose a patient's next treatment and can improve patient outcomes.
A preliminary report from the Caris Registry™ demonstrated significantly longer post-profiling survival in patients with ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer who were given treatments which their tumour profile showed were likely to benefit them against patients who were treated with drugs which profiling suggested would be less effective. Data[5] revealed that patients whose treatment was guided by tumour profiling had a 46% lower risk of death (Hazard Ratio = 0.54, p= 0.0018).
Another ovarian cancer study showed that tumour profiling[6] can help clinicians find new options to offer these hard-to-treat patients. Profiling identified patients whose tumours were likely to be highly resistant to standard treatments and indicated additional options that otherwise might not be considered.
Professor Hani Gabra, Director, Ovarian Cancer Action Research Centre at Imperial College and author of one of the abstracts, said, "The data presented at ASCO this year further support the use of comprehensive tumour profiling. It offers new options to patients whose cancers are difficult to treat or rare, or who have exhausted standard treatment options. I'm extremely excited to see this breadth of research on a global platform and am hopeful that profiling will be rapidly adopted in clinical practice in Europe."
Gilda Witte, Chief Executive of Ovarian Cancer Action, states, "In order to improve the outlook for women with ovarian cancer, we need to know much more about types of tumours, and tumour profiling is becoming paramount in this area. We are hugely impressed that Caris is investing in research to provide information on ovarian tumours and we hope that this potentially leads to a breakthrough in treatment which may subsequently impact survivorship."
Triple negative breast cancer is difficult to treat in part because it tends to progress rapidly and there are few effective treatment options. However, new data[7] presented at ASCO indicate that comprehensive tumour profiling can be used to identify specific groups of patients who over-express biomarkers such as PD-L1, indicating that they could be considered for studies evaluating whether they can benefit from experimental immunotherapies. Caris Life Sciences is one of the first and only companies in the world to offer PD-1 and PD-L1 tests in an ISO certified laboratory.
A large international study[8] of more than 14,000 gastrointestinal cancer patients showed that tumour profiling identified differences in the type and frequency of tumour biomarkers which may be used by clinicians to guide the use of appropriate therapies for individual patients.
Andreas Voss, Vice President, Medical and Clinical Affairs, Caris Life Sciences said, "Comprehensive Tumour profiling is undeniably one of the hottest topics at ASCO 2014. It is becoming increasingly clear that the best approach to tumour profiling is to use a variety of methods to test for mutations, gene expression levels, and protein biomarkers. These combined analyses provide a comprehensive report and actionable treatment options for oncologists. Caris Molecular IntelligenceTM remains the world's most advanced commercial tumour profiling service - we are proud to be working with leading oncologists worldwide to bring the benefits of tumour profiling to cancer patients."
Caris Molecular Intelligence is available to purchase in the UK, in addition some health insurance companies have agreed to reimburse the service for their clients. Caris Life Sciences is negotiating with the NHS to establish broader coverage across the country.
About Caris Life Sciences and Caris Molecular Intelligence™
Caris Life Sciences is a leading biosciences company focused on fulfilling the promise of precision medicine. Caris Molecular Intelligence™, the industry's first and largest tumour profiling service, provides oncologists with the most potentially clinically actionable treatment options available to personalise care today. Using a variety of advanced and clinically-validated technologies which assess relevant biological changes in each patient's tumour, Caris Molecular Intelligence correlates biomarker data generated from a tumour with biomarker/drug associations derived from the cancer clinical literature. The company is also developing a series of blood tests based on its proprietary Carisome® TOP™ platform, a revolutionary blood-based testing technology for diagnosis, prognosis, and theranosis of cancer and other complex diseases. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Caris Life Sciences offers services throughout Europe, the U.S., Australia and other international markets. To learn more, please visit http://www.carislifesciences.eu.
1. Astsaturov IA et al., Profiling of 1,250 neuroendocrine tumors identifies multiple potential drug targets, J Clin Oncol 32, 2014 (Suppl 3; Abstr 214)
2. Epelbaum R et al , Molecular Profiling (MP)-Selected Therapy for the Treatment of Patients with Advanced Pancreaticobiliary Cancer (PBC), 2013 ASCO GI Symposium. Jan 2013. (Abstract Number 195).
3. Von Hoff D et al, Pilot Study Using Molecular Profiling of Patients' Tumors to Find Potential Targets and Select Treatments for Their Refractory Cancers, J Clin Oncol. Nov 20;28(33)2010:4877-83
4. Tsimberidou A.M. et al. Personalized Medicine in a Phase I Clinical Trials Program: The MD Anderson Cancer Center Initiative. Clin Cancer Res 18:6373-6383
5. Abstract no 5591 by Oliver KE et al., The impact of tumor molecular profile-directed treatment on survival in recurrent ovarian cancer. Poster presentation, ASCO 2014.
6. Abstract no 5570 by Al Bakir M et al., Molecular analysis of non-epithelial ovarian cancer by histological subtype. Poster presentation, ASCO 2014.
7. Abstract no 1001 by Basu GD et al., Expression of novel immunotherapeutic targets in triple negative breast cancer. Poster presentation, ASCO 2014.
8. Abstract no 11053 by Basu GD., Molecular abnormalities of 17 types of gastrointestinal cancer in an international cohort of 11,324 patients. Poster presentation, ASCO 2014.
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