Foundation Medicine Says Panel Is More Effective Than Hotspot Testing

Foundation Medicine’s genomic profile is more effective than typical hotspot testing in determining genetic alterations that could be acted on medically, the company announced late last month. According to the Cambridge, Mass.-based Foundation Medicine, its FoundationOne genomic panel uncovered medically actionable genetic alterations in 76.4 percent of the more than 2,200 cancer tumors it profiled in its laboratory. Moreover, 61.5 percent of the alterations spotted by Foundation’s panel would not have been identified through hotspot panels used to identify specific forms of cancer, the company claimed. The findings from the in-house study were presented at the recent annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago. FoundationOne’s single test offering is the genomic panel, which retails for about $5,800 and became available in 2012. Test results are accompanied by suggested matches between the detected genetic alterations with Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs and pending clinical trials for other treatments.