A recent investigation led by GE Healthcare in partnership with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has estimated the benefits that biomarker-directed therapy could have on patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. The model that the panel developed was based on using biomarkers to identify responders and non-responders to an anti-angiogenic therapy. By properly selecting patients who would benefit the most from the drug, while eliminating the unnecessary use of ineffective treatments, the collaborators found that an average of $33,000 could be saved per patient as well as four “quality adjusted progression-free days of survival per patient”.
