Sarah Louden: The Power of Comprehensive Genomic Profiling
Sarah Louden, Founder and CEO of Total Health, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“To fully disclose, I worked for Caris Life Sciences and had the opportunity to really understand the promise and power of comprehensive genomic profiling and how it has the power to change clinical outcomes if testing became standard.
I would scratch my head wondering why it isn’t standard, and as I explored more with community oncologists, there were significant challenges. This paper really does a wonderful job of talking through just that and showing the power of testing!
49% of the patients in this study had one or more actionable biomarkers for a targeted or immunotherapy. Why is this important? Because those same patients would have been tested with a hospital based, 50-gene panel, and those markers likely would not have been picked up.
What is very real in community practice is why we aren’t moving ahead in better testing rates, and I wish companies would focus on these vs what makes them ‘better’ that their competitors.
Many hospitals and cancer centers continue to use smaller panels due to cost, familiarity, or logistical reasons, even though these panels may miss a significant portion of actionable biomarkers.
Despite being eligible, a relatively small number of patients undergo CGP testing. This gap may stem from logistical barriers or concerns over cost and insurance coverage.
Physician perspectives, including the perceived complexity of testing and the challenges of integrating results into clinical workflows, influence its underutilization.
THE BIGGEST ONE–While there is potential to offer greater precision in treatment, its adoption may be hindered by cost concerns, as well as inconsistent reimbursement policies across different health systems and payers.
Who is listening out there? Total Health | Oncology has collected so much data on who, what, where, how, and why around comprehensive testing and we have been able to use this information to transform small clinics and practices with pathways and protocols, but who will say ‘enough is enough…people are dying without the right testing!’
We need policy and payers to really hold hands here with practices and the company that decides to actually solve this….and we can’t dismiss the power of the patient voice.”
Authors: Alexa K. Dowdell, Ryan C. Meng, Ann Vita, BS, Bela Bapat, Shu-Ching Chang, Lauren Harold, Hoifung Poon, Brock Schroeder, Roshanthi Weerasinghe, Rom Leidner, Walter J. Urba, Carlo B. Bifulco and Brian D. Piening.
Sarah Louden is the Founder and CEO of Total Health | Oncology. She is a committed advocate for women in business and healthcare and also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Cancer Equity Project.
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