The VA is getting in on the use of genomic testing and precision medicine, with the New England Veteran’s Integrated Service Network selecting Personal Genome Diagnostics to head up its efforts related to precision oncology.
The Precision Oncology Program is being established by the VA network to support the collection and analysis of data on all patients seen in within the region’s network hospitals who have a lung cancer diagnosis. It aims to provide “state-of-the-art clinical care” to veterans, along with opportunities for the discovery and validation of new cancer biomarker, according the VA, the nation’s largest healthcare provider.
Baltimore-based Personal Genome Diagnostic, or PGDx, has developed a program called CancerSelect that targets gene panels and will run on veteran patients with newly-diagnosed lung cancer. According to PGDx, CancerSelect can detect alterations in 88 well-characterized genes, including nearly all targets of both current and in-the-works cancer treatment.
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If the effort proves successful, the VA hopes to quickly scale the program to hospitals nationwide and expand cancer-targeting efforts with genomics across a range of areas beyond lung cancer through clinical trials and targeted therapies.
PGDx was awarded the contract based on a competitive process. Further details were not disclosed. The company was founded in 2009 and is headed by founder and Chief Medical Officer Luis Diaz and founder and Chief Scientific Officer Victor Velculescu.
