CAP TODAY Pathology/Laboratory Medicine/Laboratory Management
November 2015—Siemens Healthcare has joined the CANCER-ID consortium, an initiative of the European Union’s Innovative Medicines Initiative, to explore the potential of blood-based biomarkers in the detection and treatment of cancer.
This consortium currently includes 33 partners from 13 countries working to establish standard protocols for the clinical validation of blood-based biomarkers. These biomarkers, including circulating tumor cells, are potential indicators for the tumor burden of patients living with cancer, especially for patients for whom biopsies of the tumor are not available. Blood-based tests that could detect and track CTCs would offer the convenience of a simple blood test that allows doctors to reliably monitor a patient’s condition. The information provided by these tests may improve the range and efficacy of treatment options from which physicians and their patients could choose.
CANCER-ID brings together experts from academic and clinical research, innovative small to medium-sized enterprises, diagnostic companies, and the pharmaceutical industry to establish the clinical utility of liquid biopsies for the detection and treatment of cancer.
Siemens Healthcare, 800-242-3233