Precision Medicine continues to expand capabilities

The advancements in Precision Medicine are leading to improved patient care across all specialties.  Some of the advancements contributing to this include:

• Improved testing capabilities – with the continuing approval of companion diagnostics and increased utilization of liquid biopsies¹ (especially when there are insufficient tumor samples available), and ongoing efforts to bring next-generation sequencing (NGS) to the clinic.  In the community practice, the use of NGS for specific biomarkers in NSCLC has increased significantly over a five-year period².
• Increase in targeted therapies – as of late 2021, 35 percent of FDA-approved drugs for cancer were targeted therapies, and the number of targeted therapies is expected to increase substantially over the next few years³. This includes drugs which are newly approved, and drugs which were approved for new indications.
• Improved patient care – with continuing acceptance of precision medicine and testing, both financial and time costs will be reduced, preventing delays for patients. In addition, pharmaceutical manufacturers are addressing the disparities in care through greater access, providing increased treatment options for patients. Pharmaceutical manufacturers are also looking at ways to increase education and helping to streamline the educational process, so providers find it to become a natural part of their practice.
• Evolving solutions and services – the businesses under AmerisourceBergen have created a Trusted Vendor Program to partner with companies and organizations that are willing to work with the solutions offered to create a more integrated offering to practices, which in turn, benefits the patients. The program helps to facilitate data exchange to move to a more real time and informed decision process, especially with value-based care, and moving to an improved state with precision medicine.

1. Advances in cancer early diagnosis with liquid biopsy-based approaches https://jcmtjournal.com/article/view/4007
2. Source: IntrinsiQ Specialty Solutions, 2021
3. https://linchpinseo.com/trends-in-precision-medicine/

The information for this blog was developed from a presentation given by Susan Weidner, The Future of Targeted Therapies: New Innovations and Approaches for Precision Medicine at a national meeting for specialty providers, held in November 2021.