The Oncotype® DX colon cancer test can significantly reduce direct medical costs and improve patient quality of life by helping avoid side effects of unnecessary treatment, according to a PharmacoEconomics journal health economic analysis titled “Comparative Economics of a 12-Gene Assay for Predicting Risk of Recurrence in Stage II Colon Cancer”.
“By providing quantitative information which has not been available with conventional measures, as demonstrated in this analysis, the Oncotype DX colon cancer test is likely to lead to both savings in direct medical costs and improved patient well-being,” Steven Alberts, M.D., chair, division of Medical Oncology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn, said in a Genomic Health press release.
Genomic Health’s Oncotype DX Prostate Cancer Assay is a genomic test performed on a patient’s needle biopsy that provides essential information regarding the biology of a patient’s prostate cancer.
The result, reported as the Genomic Prostate Score or GPS, provides a precise, accurate, and individualized risk assessment, helping the patient and his physician to decide between active surveillance and immediate treatment.
The GPS works in combination with standard guidelines for determining prostate cancer risk, from very low to intermediate, with a lower GPS representing a more favorable tumor biology and a smaller probability for a patient to begin immediate treatment with surgery or radiation.
A clinical study was preformed in 141 patients from 17 sites in the Mayo Clinic Cancer Research Consortium, where Oncotype DX test was used to identify stage II colon cancer patients with low risk of recurrence. After the GPS score, physician’s recommendations for adjuvant chemotherapy decreased by 22%, translating into medical care cost savings of $1,000 per patient, and an improvement in patients’ quality of life.
“This publication highlights the important role of the Oncotype DX colon cancer test in delivering personalized medicine to the modern paradigm for cancer care. By enabling a more individualized approach to my patients’ treatment, the test not only saves health care dollars but also improves their well-being and can prevent individual non-direct costs associated with potentially unnecessary treatment, related time away from work and increased household care needs. This trial is an important landmark highlighting the advantages of individualized care in terms of treatment benefit, toxicity and cost”, George Kim, M.D., gastrointestinal oncologist, 21st Century Oncology, Jacksonville, Fla, added in the press release.
