Presentation 6: The Present (and Future) of Genetic Profiling in Oncology

Jerry Conway provides a DNA-centric view of organizing treatment plans with respect to the use of some advances in genomic technology.

Mr Conway relates how patient-centered innovation hits close to home to his own personal experiences. “My one son says Dad, the title of the movie of your life is DNA Gone Bad,” he says, “and if you think about cancer, that’s what it is: DNA gone bad.”

He explains how his organization, Foundation Medicine, envisions itself as a “molecular information company” rather than a diagnostics company. They have focused on leading the transformation of cancer care, where “each patient’s diagnosis and treatment is informed by a deep understanding of the molecular changes that drive their disease.” Foundation Medicine believes there is an opportunity in collaboration with a number of stakeholders across the country and that they can make significant improvements in the safety, efficacy, and affordability of cancer treatment using genomic approaches.

“So, cancer is a disease of the genome and when the DNA goes bad—as my son likes to say—that’s when cancer starts. So, this is certainly a new frontier in terms of thinking about the disease in genomic terms, as opposed to histological terms only,” Mr Conway explains. “So, we see a migration from a histological view to a histomolecular view, and perhaps over time—with evidence—a molecular characterization of the disease in which the treatments are organized on a genomic basis.”

He also details other challenges and opportunities his organization has experienced with genetic testing in oncology.