Calls for genomic testing of cancer patients

Patients should be given genomic testing appropriate to their cancer as soon as they are diagnosed to improve outcomes for them, an industry group has said.

The Scottish Precision Medicines Industry Group (SPMIG) is urging health chiefs to develop a strategy that delivers a “step change” in how NHS Scotland commissions genomic testing of people with cancer.

It said the move could ensure people are routinely identified for medicines that will directly target genetic causes of their disease.

SPMIG said this would ensure that patients receive the most suitable treatment and that the NHS can use its resources to the greatest effect. A report commissioned by SPMIG makes a series of recommendations based on in-depth interviews with 15 cancer clinicians, service managers, scientists and patient advocates.

Report author John Macgill said: “Across the 15 interviews a single theme emerged – patients must be able to have routine and equitable access to the broadest genomic testing appropriate to their cancer to ensure they can be appropriately considered for existing precision treatments and new ones as they become available.

“One patient told us that, had she had the full molecular information about her cancer from the start, she’d not have been given – or spent thousands of her own money on – treatments that were never going to have worked for her.

“Clinicians and service managers told us that genomic testing can save the NHS tens of thousands of pounds and avoid creating false hope, by showing whether a treatment will work.”