Dr. Andre Discusses Testing for Genomic Alterations

Fabrice Andre, MD, PhD, Research Director, Head of INSERM Unit U981, Institut National des Sciences et de la Recherche Médicale, Associate Professor, Department of Medical Oncology, Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France, discusses utilizing genomic alteration testing in clinical trials that explore novel targeted agents in breast cancer.

Andre says that current trials typically test for only one genomic alteration in their inclusion criteria, which leaves many patients ineligible and limits the potential of testing. As an example, in the case of the FGFR1 mutation in breast cancer, 90% of patients tested are ineligible for treatment with a targeted agent, since only 10% have the mutation.

Increased emphasis should be placed on testing for more genomic alterations to speed up the clinical development of targeted therapies, Andre believes.