Companion Tests and Personalized Cancer Therapy: Reaching a Glass Ceiling

Abstract

The use of companion diagnostics has become a standard in precision oncology in the context of ongoing therapeutic innovation. However, certain limitations make their application imperfect in current practice. This position paper underscores the need to broaden the notion of companion testing, considering the potential of emerging technologies, including computational biology, to overcome these limitations. This wave of progress should impact not only our representation of the analytical tool itself but also the nature of the tumoral sample under analysis (liquid biopsies). The complex inter-relationship between companion test guided-personalized therapy, and health agency policies for new drug agreements will also be discussed.

Keywords: artificial intelligence; biomarker; clinical trials; companion tests; lung cancer; precision oncology.

Figure 1

Companion tests and personalized cancer therapy: reaching a glass ceiling. Legend to figure: The ongoing global effort to develop new companion tests is crucial for advancing personalized cancer treatment. This wave of innovations is fueled by combined advancements in patient treatment (biomolecular committees), positive clinical research results, and continuous progress in basic research. New companion tests are tailored to align with emerging targeted therapies and treatment discovery. Adopting these tests largely depends on the biological material used for these tests and is subject to authorization decisions from health authorities. Nevertheless, this position article highlights some practical and theoretical limitations in the application of companion tests, symbolizing a glass ceiling (the words indicated in bold are used in the figure drawing).