New funding expands cancer genomic profiling access in Australia
New federal funding allows twenty five thousand additional Australians to access comprehensive genomic profiling for advanced cancers.
Emily Capper received a diagnosis of aggressive brain cancer at age thirty one with only nine months to live initially. Her tumour DNA was tested through genomic profiling to match her with a more targeted treatment option.
Senior medical oncologist Rob Zielenski leads the clinical trial where Capper is enrolled and helps direct patients to correct therapies. This approach avoids wrong treatments that cause toxicity and wasted time on futile therapy for sick individuals.
The non profit organisation Omico matches patients to trials and provides genomic profiling for free when possible. It has supported more than thirty thousand Australians but limited resourcing means only one in four people get help.
Professor David Thomas said thirty four thousand Australians per year could potentially benefit from this precision care. The government aims to make genomics a standard of care rather than something situated only in research programs.
“It's like giving us a topographic map and a compass”