Delivering on the Promise of Precision Medicine in the Community

Precision medicine and targeted therapies have transformed the treatment of cancer for millions of patients in the United States and around the world. But the healthcare system’s ability to provide these breakthrough therapies to patients close to home is lagging behind the pace of scientific advancement.

Most patients with cancer prefer to receive treatment locally. This was easy enough when treatment options were limited to radiation, chemotherapy or surgery. But with the rapid expansion of new modalities and targeted therapies, including immunotherapies, bispecific T-cell engagers, CAR Ts and theranostic treatments, keeping pace with new innovations is time-intensive. With growing clinical evidence demonstrating the efficacy of these precision therapies over traditional treatments for many types of cancer, they are increasingly being used as frontline therapies.

Precision medicines can come with a range of special requirements for administration and post-treatment monitoring, depending on the modality — and in some cases, patients may require additional care for potential adverse events. While major academic medical centers were early adopters of these innovations, community oncology practices are increasingly investing in the infrastructure, training and systems needed to offer these therapies as well, though this adoption requires careful planning and resources.

Not all patients are able or willing to travel to the sites that offer complex therapies or to spend days, if not weeks, away from home as required to receive them. For many patients — those with school-aged children, busy work schedules, elder care responsibilities or a myriad of other common life complications, remaining close to home isn’t a choice; it’s a requirement.

The opportunity before us is to continue expanding access to precision medicines into community settings so every patient can receive personalized care that gives them the best chance at survival and quality of life without having to travel far from their support systems.

Building the Precision Medicine-Ready Practice

Minnesota Oncology is working to break down these barriers so more patients can receive the latest treatments closer to home. This transformation has required careful planning and systematic changes to evolve not only how we work but our infrastructure and team capabilities as well.

One key change was embedding genomic testing directly into our clinical practice, making it as routine as ordering a blood count. When a patient is diagnosed with cancer, molecular profiling becomes a routine part of our process to select the best treatment pathway. Once we have the results, we can click a button to digitize them for the major next-generation sequencing (NGS) companies into the patient’s chart for future trial matching and easier provider viewing. This is especially important, as emerging therapies may target a novel genomic driver mutation that was historically not targeted.

Technology has been central to our transformation. We use Genospace, a McKesson clinical data analysis system, in collaboration with Sarah Cannon Research Institute

(SCRI), which pulls together patients’ sequencing results, their current treatment status and other clinical information to identify those who may benefit from specific therapies or clinical trials.

We now pre-screen every new patient for clinical trials when they walk through our doors, and we continuously monitor hundreds, sometimes thousands, of existing patients for eligibility. The system even reminds us when a patient’s upcoming scans might reveal progression, prompting us to consider the next clinical trial options proactively.

This data-driven approach has transformed our decision making. With better insights on eligible patients, we can make strategic decisions about which studies to open, ensuring we’re successful in enrollment and can offer our patients access to the most relevant cutting-edge therapies even at our most remote clinical sites. In addition, our multidisciplinary care teams meet regularly to review complex cases, ensuring that pathologists, medical oncologists, pharmacists and nurse navigators all contribute their expertise to treatment planning. We’ve also invested heavily in staff education, ensuring every team member understands the complexities of precision medicine and can support patients throughout their treatment journey.

Our partnership with The US Oncology Network has been instrumental in this transformation, providing us with the latest treatment guidelines, shared learnings from other practices facing similar challenges and specialty distribution services to ensure medicines arrive when our patients need them. The Network’s collaboration with SCRI has also opened doors for our patients to participate in clinical trials without having to leave their community.

Strengthening the Precision Medicine Ecosystem

For precision medicine to become widely available in the community setting, greater collaboration and coordination across the healthcare ecosystem are required. This means drug developers, technology partners, payers and healthcare providers work closely toward a common goal of making precision medicines accessible to every patient who would benefit from these therapies.

Biopharma companies play an important role beyond simply developing new therapies. They provide much-needed real-world data and educational resources that show us how to integrate new treatments into real-world workflows and best practices from clinicians across the country.

Community oncologists see patients across all cancer types, not just specific indications. We stay up to date on the latest research, clinical trials and treatment guidelines, but keeping pace with the speed of innovation requires dedication, resources and, most importantly, a collaborative environment. Thankfully, community practices have found willing partners across the healthcare ecosystem.

We’re already seeing the impact of these partnerships. Patients who might have missed opportunities for cutting-edge treatments are now being identified systematically by new practices and technologies embedded in our workflows. These technologies and collaborations have the potential to be curative for some patients.

By working together, community oncologists, biopharma companies, technology partners and healthcare organizations can ensure every patient receives the most advanced, personalized care possible, regardless of where they live. That’s not just the future of oncology. For thousands of patients in our communities, it’s happening right now.