Matching Cancer Drugs to Gene Mutations Raises Survival Odds

Doctors are treating cancer according to the genetic aberrations found in patients’ tumors, not just where they’re found in the body, an approach that may boost the odds of survival, according to a study.

Researchers from M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston found that more than one in four patients who had no treatment options left improved after getting a drug tied to the genetic flaw fueling their cancer -- whether the tumor originated in the lung, breast or other organ -- compared with just one in 20 who got standard care. The report, the first to validate the method’s success, was presented yesterday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago.