Posts Tagged ‘Biomarkers’

  Thanks to one of my LinkedIn contacts, I was introduced to a newly released “scorecard” that ranks pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies based on their precision medicine efforts. In essence, the organizations who made the cut are the ones moving precision medicine forward. They’re the ones focused on leveraging biomarkers to develop new therapies. 

  I recently read an article, The Future of Cancer Treatment Is (Almost) Here, which discusses liquid biopsy, a method of using blood samples to detect cancer. While new forms of cancer detection and monitoring continue to be developed, we’ve already made significant strides in the treatment of certain diseases. 

  Dr. Janet Woodcock, the director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) at the FDA, recently posted a blog piece that discussed the department’s strides in precision and personalized medicine. She points out that since 2012, CDER has approved 30 targeted therapies, eight of which were in 2014.