Treating cancer effectively with precision medicine COVID has caused a global backlog in cancer care, but CanCertain can help select effective treatments, Dr Himanshu Kataria, Founder and CEO, tells Sarah Cartledge
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here are substantial amount of patients globally who have been unable to access cancer diagnosis or care since the start of the pandemic. As clinicians work to make up the backlog, they are being aided by huge advances by science thanks to personalised treatments and precision medicine. 36
Cancer testing such as that offered by CanCertain will soon deliver results based on drug sensitivity, immunity and drug resistance. Developed by Dr Himanshu Kataria in the north west of England, a test using 3D cell culture enables drugs to be tested for efficacy on a tumour sample taken via biopsy. By mimicking the natural
human body in a laboratory setting, cells grow and act as they do in the body and can be tested for their response to chemotherapy, immunotherapy and targeted therapy drugs. As cancer is a disease characterised by both a patient’s genetic makeup and that of the cancer cells within their tumour, it generally becomes more heterogeneous as it progresses. As a result, the tumour can include collections of cells with distinct molecular signatures and differential levels of sensitivity to treatment. Despite the development of newer targeted therapies, most cancer patients receive a ‘one-size fits all’ treatment plan because of systematic constraints in cancer treatment.
