The precision cancer medicine ecosystem established in Norway and the ongoing implementation in the health care system are unique in an international context. Our experiences, successes and results are of great interest to the international community. The description of the entire ecosystem was therefore published in Nature Medicine today.
– This publication is a recognition of the work we do in Norway. We are very pleased with how far we have come together as a team with participants from all stakeholders in the ecosystem, the hospitals, public side with the regional health authorities, Ministry of Health, The Norwegian Medicines Agency, Norwegian Institute of Public Health and industry. This is also reflected in the list of authors which includes 116 authors from InPreD, IMPRESS-Norway and CONNECT says Sigbjørn Smeland, Head of Division for Cancer Medicine, Oslo University Hospital
The article highlights the fact that we have managed to set up a national infrastructure for advanced molecular diagnostics as part of the health care service (reimbursed). Implementation of extended gene panel analysis enables us to find patients with rare mutations that can be included into precision medicine clinical trials. IMPRESS-Norway as a clinical trial plays a key role because it provides treatment options for several of the patients who receive molecular diagnostics (over 250 patients diagnosed by InPreD, of which over 60 patients have been offered treatment in IMPRESS).
-The initiatives cover patients’ need for access to modern diagnostics and treatment using the precision medicine approach. says Kjetil Taskén, Head of Institute for Cancer Research at Oslo University Hospital.
The way forward
InPreD and IMPRESS started inclusion 1th of April 2021, and during the first year, more than 250 patients have received molecular diagnostics through InPreD and more than 60 patients have been offered treatment based on the molecular diagnostics. The focus now is to scale up the diagnostic capacity so that more patients can be offered extended gene panel sequencing, we will also expand the type of advanced diagnostics available with, among other things, cancer drug sensitivity screening for selected patient groups. In addition, we work to get more drugs into IMPRESS so that more patients can be offered treatment and we can learn more about how this model provides knowledge about the effect of approved drugs and how this can ultimately results in better patient care in Norway
Read more in Dagens Medisin, NRK, forskning.no, Adresseavisen, Sunnmørsposten, Ahus, Kreftregistret, St. Olav, Oslo Universitetssykehus, UiO, OUS-research (english) and CONNECT (english).