NEW YORK – The Belgian Society of Medical Oncology (BSMO) on Thursday announced a study to evaluate the use of genomic profiling and precision oncology for patients with advanced cancer in Belgium.
BSMO will begin the study, dubbed BALLETT, next month. It will enroll 864 patients with advanced metastatic cancer. These patients will be offered comprehensive genomic profiling, and the deidentified data from the study will be added to a newly established national genomic tumor database overseen by Belgium’s Scientific Institute for Public Health, Sciensano.
Illumina and PierianDx have also partnered with BSMO on this study. Illumina will provide its TruSight Oncology 500 panel for the study, along with its NovaSeq 6000 and NextSeq sequencing platforms. Clinical interpretation of the sequencing data will be done with PierianDx's Clinical Genomics Workspace platform and OncoDNA's platform OncoKDM.
Data from the tumor profiling will be used to make treatment decisions, with the goal to improve access to targeted treatments and improve outcomes for patients with advanced cancer.
"As part of Belgium's broad approach to advancing precision medicine, the study will generate valuable insights into the value of [comprehensive genomic profiling] versus currently reimbursed sequencing approaches," Brigitte Maes, coordinator of BALLETT study, said in a statement.