Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital are developing a supportive care model to help advanced lung cancer patients better understand their prognosis after research showed that the optimism around precision oncology is making it difficult for oncologists and patients to have more sobering but realistic discussions about end-of-life decisions. The research, led by Laura Petrillo, [...]
Although few would argue there are challenges to equitably implementing precision cancer care, the barriers flagged by a doctor trying to deliver biomarker-informed treatments are quite different from those experienced by a patient trying to access genomic profiling and targeted therapies, and still different from the views of an insurance company executive tasked with [...]
MirXes, a Singapore-based RNA testing firm, said on Thursday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with several Singapore universities and hospitals to launch a study of circulating microRNA and DNA methylation biomarkers for multi-cancer early detection. Under Project CADENCE (cancer detected early can be cured), the partners plan to discover and validate methylation [...]
Helix has developed a "sliding power window" population genomics method that allows researchers to maintain the statistical power of analyses involving numerous rare variants spread throughout a broad population. In a medRxiv preprint posted last month, the firm used this technique to identify a subset of people with atrial fibrillation and carrying truncated variants [...]
Sequencing technology firm Genapsys is considering bankruptcy amid an escalating power struggle between the firm's former CEO and cofounder and his successor. According to court documents obtained by GenomeWeb, Genapsys in May sought and received permission from the Delaware Court of Chancery to hire New York-based financial services firm Lazard "to explore both financing [...]
Meridian Bioscience announced on Thursday that it has entered into an agreement to be acquired by a newly formed affiliate of Korean diagnostic company SD Biosensor and investment firm SJL Partners for about $1.53 billion. SD Biosensor and SJL will fund the acquisition through a combination of cash on hand and additional financing capacity, [...]
Molecular testing firm BillionToOne said Friday that it is collaborating with the University of California, San Diego to evaluate the company's newly launched liquid biopsy assays, Northstar Select and Northstar Response, in late-stage non-small cell lung cancer. Northstar Select is a comprehensive pan-cancer somatic mutation profiling panel and Northstar Response is a methylation-based, tissue-agnostic [...]
Caris Life Sciences on Thursday announced an enhanced partnership with electronic health records firm Epic to integrate Caris' molecular testing portfolio with Epic's Orders and Results Anywhere (ORA) network. Caris will make its entire suite of molecular profile services available, including whole exome and whole transcriptome sequencing for both tissue and blood samples, making [...]
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law last week a state budget that includes $10 million for precision medicine research related to depression and $9.3 million to increase the participation of underrepresented communities in biomedical research. The budget bill is California's largest to date, at $308 billion, and the Governor's Office of Planning & [...]
The European Society for Medical Oncology released new recommendations Thursday on the use of circulating tumor DNA assays in cancer patients. Developed by the society's Precision Medicine Working Group and published in the ESMO journal Annals of Oncology, the new recommendations endorse liquid biopsies as a standard of care for genotyping and treatment selection [...]
