Oncology Biomarker Testing Current US Practice Baseline and Emerging Trends

About the Speaker
Julia Trosman is co-founder and director of the Center for Business Models in Healthcare, a health services research organization focused on precision medicine and personalized care models. She holds adjunct faculty appointments at the Department of Clinical Pharmacy, the University of California, San Francisco, and Feinberg School Medicine, Northwestern University. Julia’s work is focused on adoption and reimbursement of precision medicine in oncology and other disease areas, as well as development and implementation of personalized care delivery and reimbursement models. In collaboration with the UCSF Center for Translational and Policy Research on Personalized Medicine (TRANSPERS), Julia researches health care system and reimbursement policy implications of genomic sequencing. She holds an MBA degree from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, and a PhD degree in systems engineering from the Law and Economics Institute (Russia).Abstract
Molecular biomarkers, a cornerstone of precision oncology, are critical for management of a number of cancers. Testing practices are varied and intensely debated, impacting diagnostic quality and affecting pathologists, oncologists and patients. However, little is known about testing approaches used in the US clinical practice. This presentation will outline key issues in oncology biomarker testing and describe findings from a study of practices used by National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated cancer centers, the leading U.S. oncology institutions, for testing key biomarkers in three solid tumors - breast, gastroesophageal and non-small cell lung cancers. Taken together, these three cancers represent an epitome of molecular profiling practices. We will discuss these practices as the groundwork for a U.S. practice baseline, in the context of current guidelines, testing challenges and implications for community-based oncology. Finally, we will outline emerging trends in biomarker testing, namely next-generation tumour sequencing, and related adoption and reimbursement implications.