In collaboration with Perthera, a precision medicine intelligence company, the nonprofit group ZERO is launching “Decode Your Prostate Cancer,” a program to give men fighting prostate cancer (PC) the ability to create personalized treatment plans.
Each prostate cancer diagnosis is different due to its genetic form, and personalized medicine has been shown to offer an effective approach to treatment and post-treatment management.
Through ZERO’s partnership with Perthera, eligible patients with metastatic PC can access their molecular profiles for free and receive tailored plans of care based on which genetic mutations are driving their cancer.
Perthera matches cancer patients with multiple therapeutic options, ranked by the highest probability of best outcome, through its “Perthera Report.”
“One of the most significant recent breakthroughs in the fight against cancer is pinpointing the patient’s tumor characteristics. The Perthera Report accomplishes this and more by providing ranked therapeutic options that have been reviewed by Perthera’s experts and scientific tumor board,” Jamie Bearse, president and CEO of ZERO, said in a press release.
“With this critical data, we’re able to put men battling prostate cancer on the best individualized treatment pathways, getting them back to life with their families,” he said.
A pilot program is currently taking place where patients are not only receiving treatment, they are also adding their anonymous data to the program’s database. This helps the next patient who is diagnosed with a similar tumor mutation.
To enroll in the “Decode Your Prostate Cancer” program, you must first complete a release waiver online. Then a Perthera patient coordinator will contact you and your physician to get consent to obtain your tissue biopsy.
In consultation with your clinical care team, your coordinator will develop your molecular profile using Perthera’s technology. Your profile will then be matched with data on different types of treatment and clinical trials.
After a group of oncologists from Perthera’s Medical Review Panel reviews your molecular profile results, you and your medical team will receive your personalized report. In the report you should expect to read about how different treatments rank for your specific profile and which clinical trials the panel determined would work best for someone with your specific molecular profile.
There are several approaches to prostate cancer treatment that often remain unexplored by patients and their physicians due to a lack of information, such as active surveillance. Earlier this year, a new study showed that only one in four PC patients actually opted for this treatment.