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Foundation Medicine Partners on Study of Young Adults with Lung Cancer

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Foundation Medicine is partnering with the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute and the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation for a study aimed at improving treatment options for young adults with lung cancer.

The multicenter, international prospective study, called the Genomics of Young Lung Cancer, will use Foundation's FoundationOne test for solid tumors, along with expertise from leading academic institutions and peer-reviewed literature, to determine better treatment options and tailor therapies for young adults with lung cancer. FoundationOne uses next-generation sequencing to provide a genomic profile of solid tumors to identify the molecular changes in a patient's tumor, and then matches those changes with relevant targeted therapies and clinical trials.

Citing statistics from the American Cancer Society, Foundation said that of the 224,000 new cases of lung cancer expected to be diagnosed this year, about 3,700 will be patients under the age of 45. Such patients often do not have the characteristic symptoms and signs typical of a patient with the disease, ALCMI President and COO Steven Young said.

"Despite an environment of rapidly expanding treatment options available for lung cancer, a lack of understanding of comprehensive testing for the molecular drivers of the disease specifically in young adults restricts the effective treatments available to patients at a tragically early stage in their lives," he said in a statement. "Through this initial study, we hope to address this gap in knowledge and access, and lay the groundwork to routinely identify more effective treatment options for these patients."

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