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 Member
Please 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
Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Room W304 A-D, Convention Center
Wojciech Senkowski, University of Copenhagen
A platform utilizing high-grade serous ovarian cancer organoids for prospective patient stratification in functional precision medicine
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.
Stay connected, stay ahead. Know everything that matters, as it happens. From the very latest industry news, reports, papers, and studies. Would you like to see your news here? Email the admin and we will get it linked. Check out our news archive for all past stories and posts.
The current issue of Nature Reviews Cancer features on its cover a personal perspective on the fight against rare cancers. One part of the story of this features the use of an agnostic drug-repurposing screen to do functional precions medicine. This revealed vulnerabilities that were not predicted by the transcriptome, but which helped not only elucidate some important cell biology pathways in the toumor, but have laid the foundation for a clinical trial
3D patient tumor avatars (3D-PTAs) hold promise for next-generation precision medicine. Here, we describe the benefits and challenges of 3D-PTA technologies and necessary future steps to realize their potential for clinical decision making. 3D-PTAs require standardization criteria and prospective trials to establish clinical benefits. Innovative trial designs that combine omics and 3D-PTA readouts may lead to more accurate clinical predictors, and an integrated platform that combines diagnostic and therapeutic development will accelerate new treatments for patients with refractory disease.
Although functional precision medicine has the potential to transform cancer care, experts at the American Association for Cancer Research's annual meeting recounted how the present regulatory and reimbursement environment has made it difficult for them to use research findings to inform patient treatment.
Professor Anthony Letai, President of the Society for Functional Precision Medicine explains the concept of functional precision medicine in oncology: we take the patient's living tissue and expose it to drugs, then ask if there is an effect, we can measure that predicts response in vivo. Dr. Letai is convinced that this will be a valuable diagnostic tool, the next step in precision medicine.
Drug testing of patient derived tumor organoids identified high sensitivity to the EGFR targeting drug lapatinib, consistent with HER2 amplification. Remarkably, this patient achieved a complete remission with a combination of EGFR inhibitor trastuzumab and pertuzumab followed by a personalized vaccine, and is currently disease free. This study indicates the potential of functional testing of patient derived tumor cells to identify effective therapies for cancers with poor outcome.
Organoids are self-organizing, expanding 3D cultures derived from stem cells. Using tissue derived from patients, these miniaturized models recapitulate various aspects of patient physiology and disease phenotypes, including genetic profiles and drug sensitivities
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.
