Washington, DC – June 8, 2021 – Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) is proud to announce the launch of Step 2 of the ctDNA for Monitoring Treatment Response (ctMoniTR) Project. This project aims to determine the extent to which changes in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) are an early indicator of response to therapy on a larger scale than has been done before.
With the launch of Step 2, Friends and its project partners will collect data on the use of ctDNA to monitor treatment response in more than 25 studies representing over 3,000 cancer patients, 16 additional treatments, and several cancer types. The group anticipates releasing preliminary Step 2 data in 2022. Full results from Step 1, which show that early changes in ctDNA following PD1/PDL1 treatment in advanced lung cancer were a strong indicator of long-term outcomes across multiple clinical trials, are forthcoming with a publication release date to be announced at a later time.
This next step of the ctMoniTR project is an exciting endeavor and we are pleased to collaborate with an extensive group of partners. The data that will be compiled in Step 2 will supply evidence needed to determine whether ctDNA can identify patients responding to therapy or not at an earlier timepoint than currently available methods.
“This is an opportunity to validate a new tool which would allow patients and physicians to know sooner and more accurately if treatments are working” said Jeff Allen, President & CEO of Friends of Cancer Research. “Through this unique collaboration, the results will be faster and more robust than if everyone continues to investigate it independently.”
The goal of Step 2 of ctMoniTR is to expand the study of the relationship between ctDNA and clinical outcomes across a number of clinical settings that include several drug classes and tumor types. The use of ctDNA is changing at a rapid pace and the working group aims to evaluate the value of ctDNA in additional cancers and therapies.
Friends of Cancer Research is proud to partner with the following 25 organizations on this important topic: AstraZeneca, Bayer, Biodesix, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb Company, Cancer Research And Biostatistics (CRAB), EMD Serono, Inc., US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Foundation Medicine, Inc., Genentech, Inc., Guardant Health, Inc., Illumina, Inc., Johns Hopkins University, Lilly Oncology, Merck & Co. Inc., Molecular Characterization Laboratory at Frederick National Laboratory, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Natera, Inc., NMD Group LLC., Novartis AG, Pfizer, Inc., Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Resolution Bioscience, Inc., Takeda Pharmaceutical Company
For more information on this project, visit: https://friendsofcancerresearch.org/ctdna.
About Friends of Cancer Research
Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) is working to accelerate policy change, support groundbreaking science, and deliver new therapies to patients quickly and safely. We unite scientists, pharmaceutical companies, and policy makers with shared trust and guide them toward meaningful cooperation. This collaboration among partners from every healthcare sector ultimately drives advances in science, policy, and regulation that speed life-saving treatments to patients. For more information, please visit www.friendsofcancerresearch.org/.
