PGDx Launches CancerSelect™ Targeted Gene Panel for Patients and Physicians

Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc. (PGDx) has announced that its CancerSelect™ targeted gene panel is now available to cancer patients and their physicians through the company’s MyPersonalGenome service. The CancerSelect panel detects alterations in 88 well-characterized genes that include all targets of currently available or investigational cancer treatment options.

CancerSelect has a number of unique features. First, the test is designed to hone in on those actionable genes that are clinically useful and have the potential to impact treatment decisions. This focus enables PGDx to employ advanced genetic analysis methods to achieve highly informative results while keeping the panel within current reimbursement parameters.

Second, PGDx analyzes the CancerSelect genes using next-generation sequencing at extremely high coverage and proprietary PGDx technologies to identify a comprehensive list of genetic alterations, including point mutations, copy number alterations and genetic rearrangements. Many cancer gene tests only identify point mutations; yet all three types of genetic alterations can potentially play a role in disease progression and response to treatment.

Third, CancerSelect is the only gene panel that compares the patient’s tumor DNA with their normal DNA, thereby identifying those genetic alterations specifically associated with the cancer. This avoids the risk of reporting alterations that are not truly tumor-specific and that could thereby lead to erroneous treatment decisions.

Manuel Hidalgo, MD, PhD, is Director of the Centro Integral Oncológico Clara Campal and Professor of Oncology at the Universidad CEU San Pablo in Madrid, Spain. He formerly was Associate Professor of Oncology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Hidalgo commented, “Having worked closely with PGDx over the years, I am pleased that their expertise is now available to the larger oncology community via this targeted gene panel. The increasing availability of personalized cancer treatment strategies highlights the need for accurate, informative and accessible genetic analyses. The CancerSelect panel should be a useful addition to the field.”

Results from the CancerSelect panel are intended to provide physicians with more insight into their patients’ disease classification, prognosis and treatment options, as well as to help identify clinical trials that might be appropriate based on the genetics of their cancer. Physicians and patients submit standard tumor and saliva samples to PGDx for analysis at the company’s CLIA-certified laboratory, and a comprehensive report is ready within three weeks.

Siân Jones, PhD, Vice President of Genome Analyses at PGDx, noted, “CancerSelect is the culmination of a great deal of research to identify those cancer genes that are truly actionable today. By narrowing our focus to this core group, we have been able to develop a highly informative, yet affordable panel that benefits from PGDx’s deep clinical knowledge and our unique genetic analysis technologies. We will be continually reviewing and updating the panel as knowledge in this fast-moving field continues to advance.”