Differences Exist in Precision Oncology Drug Eligibility Among Patient Ancestral Groups
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Jan. 14, 2025 -- Ancestry-based differences in frequencies of biomarkers that drive patient selection for treatment with precision oncology drugs currently exist, according to a study published online Jan. 9 in JAMA Oncology.
Kanika Arora, from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, and colleagues examined whether patients with cancer from different ancestral backgrounds benefited equally from U.S. Food and Drug Administration precision oncology drug approvals from January 1998 to December 2023. The analysis included a retrospective analysis of samples from 59,433 patients with solid cancers who underwent clinical sequencing using the integrated mutation profiling of actionable cancer targets (MSK-IMPACT) assay between January 2014 and December 2022.
The researchers found that the approval of the EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitor erlotinib for patients with EGFR-mutant lung cancers in 2013 disproportionately benefited patients of East Asian and South Asian ancestries, leading to higher patient fractions with level 1 biomarkers in these ancestral groups versus other populations. Patients of African ancestry had the lowest fraction of level 1 biomarkers compared with other groups from 2019 onward, while the increase in precision oncology drug approvals from 2019 to 2020 had a notable positive impact on clinical actionability for patients of European ancestry.
"These differences may exacerbate the systemic disparities in clinical outcomes in patients of African ancestry due to existing deficiencies in their access to cancer care," the authors write.
Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.
Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Posted January 2025
Read this next
Helping Others Linked to Higher Level of Cognitive Function
THURSDAY, Aug. 21, 2025 -- Helping others, both via formal volunteering and informal helping, is associated with higher levels of cognitive function and slower cognitive decline...
TAR-200 Monotherapy Promising for BCG-Unresponsive Bladder Cancer
THURSDAY, Aug. 21, 2025 -- For patients with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-unresponsive high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), an intravesical...
Work-Related Income Drops for Parents of Children Diagnosed With Type 1 Diabetes
THURSDAY, Aug. 21, 2025 -- Work-related income decreases sharply for mothers and fathers of children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, with similar effects across sociodemographic...
More news resources
- FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts
- Daily MedNews
- News for Health Professionals
- New Drug Approvals
- New Drug Applications
- Drug Shortages
- Clinical Trial Results
- Generic Drug Approvals
Subscribe to our newsletter
Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.