The mission of the Society is to improve patient care and outcomes by facilitating implementation of functional assays into clinical care. The purposes are to foster research and development of functional precision medicine solutions across medicine; to accelerate the dissemination of new and relevant research findings among interested parties; to promote education and training about functional precision medicine; to foster solutions for clinical testing of functional precision medicine approaches; and to improve efficiency of adoption of functional precision medicine solutions through interaction with academia, regulatory bodies, industry, and patients.
Become a MemberPlease come, and encourage others. The AACR keeps track of attendance at these symposia, and if you want to raise the profile of functional precision medicine, come and bring as many with you as possible! Spread the good word of FPM.
Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at 10:15 AM - 11:45 AM
Tangerine Ballroom 2, Convention Center
Anthony Letai, MD, PhD, Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Saturday, April 15, 2023, at 1:00 PM - 1:20 PM
Valencia BC, Convention Center
Alice Sorangi, UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles
Patient-derived tumor organoids for precision medicine
Monday, April 17, 2023, at 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Room W307, Convention Center
Diana Azzam, Florida International University
Efficacy of a functional precision medicine approach in relapsed/refractory pediatric cancer patients: results from a prospective clinical study
The SFPM arose out of recognition of the unmet need in matching cancer patients to the therapies best suited for them. Through the use of functional assays, we hope to bridge the gap between patients and the treatments best suited for their cancer. This is possible through research, communication, and collaboration amongst our members and with outreach to the cancer therapy community as a whole. To further the mission, we offer our members the following exclusive benefits
Applications for membership may be submitted at any time during the year. We look forward to having you onboard!
Come join us for our Virtual Monthly Seminar which will bring together a unique mix of pharmaceutical, academic and technology leaders, the series should not be missed for those interested in the use of assaying technology to further biomarker discovery, drug R&D and personalized healthcare outcomes.
Wednesday, April 12, 2023
11:30 AM EST
Meeting URL: dfci.zoom.us
Meeting ID: 932 5793 1032 | Password: 153772
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Precision medicine is starting to incorporate functional assays to evaluate anticancer agents on patient-isolated tissues or cells to select for the most effective. Among these new technologies, dynamic BH3 profiling (DBP) has emerged and extensively been used to predict treatment efficacy in different types of cancer. DBP uses synthetic BH3 peptides to measure early apoptotic events (‘priming’) and anticipate therapy-induced cell death leading to tumor elimination. This predictive functional assay presents multiple advantages but a critical limitation: the cell number requirement, that limits drug screening on patient samples, especially in solid tumors.
The story begins decades ago with a man named Stanley Korsmeyer, who led the molecular oncology program at Dana-Farber from 1998 until his death in 2005. He discovered that B-cell cancers like CLL over-produced a protein called BCL-2, and interfered with apoptosis, or programmed cell death. But how that went from an interesting discovery to a game-changing cancer drug is a story of persistence and momentum, and it’s the first episode of season two of Unraveled
The 4th Precision Oncology Symposium of the Comprehensive Cancer Center Zurich will bring together international leaders in the field of functional precision medicine including oncologists, cancer researchers and data experts to discuss latest developments and future directions. Click the button below to register today!
Patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas (NHLs) often relapse after frontline treatment, and interpatient heterogeneity make personalized combination treatment difficult. Goh et al. have developed a hybrid experimental-analytic method that they call quadratic phenotypic optimization platform, or QPOP, to identify personalized drug combination therapies using ex vivo patient samples to improve patient outcomes. In a prospective cohort, physicians were able to alter treatment according to drug combinations identified using QPOP after 6 days to achieve complete responses in 5 of 17 patients with NHL. This is a promising step for providing new hope for patients who have relapsed NHL and provides a foundation for further clinical trials.
A follow up to our October Seminar
The BCL2 inhibitor venetoclax has revolutionized the treatment of AML patients not benefiting from intensive chemotherapy. Nevertheless, treatment failure remains a challenge, and predictive markers are needed, particularly for R/R AML. Although, the ex vivo drug sensitivity testing has been used by several research groups, very few prospective trials have analyzed the correlation of drug sensitivity testing results to treatment outcome
VenEx is a prospective Phase 2 trial aiming to evaluate if ex vivo drug sensitivity testing could be used to identify AML patients who benefit from venetoclax + azacitidine therapy. This interim analysis of 39 first trial participants demonstrated that the experimental conditions significantly influenced predictive accuracy. Blast-specific venetoclax sensitivity measured in conditioned medium most accurately correlated with treatment outcomes; 88% of sensitive participants achieved treatment response. Median survival was significantly longer for ex vivo sensitive participants. This analysis illustrates the feasibility of integrating drug-response profiling into clinical practice and demonstrates excellent predictivity. The second stage of the trial is on-going to validate these results.
The American Society of Hematology welcomes SFPM President Dr. Tony Letai, Dr. Philipp Staber, & Dr. Caroline Heckman to discuss "Functional Precision Hematology" at their October 11 webinar.
The SFPM is growing, and we need financial support. While we collect annual individual membership dues, these only fund a fraction of our needs. To plan for the future, the SFPM must secure a stable financial basis from which to plan. Even though the Board is made up of unpaid volunteers, we nonetheless have significant costs to defray, particularly with respect to annual meetings and administrative support.
Contributions from all tiers will be recognized by name on the SFPM website, however, contributions at the Precision tier will receive preferred logo placement and recognition on the SFPM website, logo and name recognition at each monthly seminar, and institution name and logo prominently displayed at our annual meeting and on meeting marketing materials. Precision tier supporters will also receive ten (10) complimentary memberships to be distributed amongst their institutions. Functional tier supporters will receive name and logo recognition during at least six of our monthly seminars as well as name and logo recognition on our website. Functional tier supporters will also receive five (5) complimentary memberships to be distributed amongst their institutions. Advocate tier supporters will receive name and logo recognition on our website and one (1) complimentary membership. We hope you agree with us that “the future is functional”, and that the SFPM is getting us there faster.