Patient Information for the Molecular Screening and Therapeutics Study

Precision oncology is particularly significant for older patients, and those with advanced stage cancers and/or rare cancers who have not responded to standard therapies and have very few other treatment options.

It is important to be aware that not all patients may benefit from tumour profiling; that is, not all will have ‘actionable’ variants found in their tumour DNA. We have found that some degree of actionability is reported in about 45% of referrals, however this comes with a certain level of confidence that the proposed, matched treatment will be effective.

Possible treatments include drugs that target a gene mutation(s) in an individual person’s cancer, immunotherapy (in which the patient’s own immune system is used to attack the cancer) or referral to an appropriate clinical trial.