“People have been saying that we won’t reap benefits from the genomics revolution for another five or 10 years, but in fact there is a lot of excitement about this,” said Randy Scott, chief executive of Genomic Health.
In an impressive debut this week at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago, the results from several Genomic Health pilot projects were announced. One test involved predicting whether or not a patient’s tumors would respond to a new drug sold by AstraZeneca Plc called Iressa, which targets the molecular switches turned on in cancer. It is designed to inhibit the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) — a key growth signaling pathway in cancer. Only about 10% of cancer patients show tumor size reduction by using Iressa. Genomic Health was able to screen the genes of 39 prospective patients and accurately identified the 7 who did respond to the drug and the 32 who did not because of their personal genetic makeup.
“This method of examining genes provides us with a basic road map of the genes involved in the EGFR pathway, so that we can see which genes are in the ‘on’ position and which are in the ‘off’ position,” said Dr. David Agus, research director at Cedars-Sinai’s prostate cancer center.
Genomic Health is launching three large-scale tests to firm up its preliminary results. The company hopes to begin offering tests to physicians within a year through its own clinical laboratory.