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Equal access to innovative therapies and precision cancer care

Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology volume 13, pages 385–393 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

Patients with cancers of differing histologies that express certain biomarkers are likely to benefit from treatment with targeted therapies. However, targets can be present in malignancies other than those indicated by a drug's label, and as a result, affected patients will have no access to those potentially useful drugs. To tackle this issue, the French National Cancer Institute developed the AcSé Programme in 2013. This programme is designed to make treatment decisions or recommendations on the basis of the presence of relevant biomarkers for malignancies with no targeted therapies available and also aims to improve safety, and evaluate the efficacy of targeted drugs used outside of their approved indications. Patients across France have access to molecular testing in 28 molecular genetics centres and to targeted therapies within phase II trials provided no other trials exist in which they could reasonably be included. Trials include patients below the age of 18 if safe dosing data are available. As of January 2016, 183 French clinical sites and over 7,000 patients are participating in AcSé led trials. Proof of concept is being demonstrated through trials designed to investigate the effectiveness of crizotinib and vemurafenib in a wide variety of cancers.

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Figure 1: The 28 INCa-certified molecular genetics centres in France.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Maren White (freelancer editor and medical writer) for her editorial support in the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agnès Buzyn, Natalie Hoog-Labouret and Frédérique Nowak are at the Institut National du Cancer, 52 avenue André Morizet, F-92513 Boulogne-Billancourt, France.,

    Agnès Buzyn, Natalie Hoog-Labouret & Frédérique Nowak

  2. David Pérol and Jean-Yves Blay are at the Centre Léon Bérard, 28 Rue Laennec, F-69008, Lyon, France.,

    Jean-Yves Blay & David Pérol

  3. Jean-Yves Blay is at the University of Lyon, 92 Rue Pasteur, F-69007 Lyon, France.,

    Jean-Yves Blay

  4. Marta Jimenez and Christian Cailliot are at R&D Unicancer, 101 rue de Tolbiac, F-75654 Paris Cedex 13, France.,

    Marta Jimenez & Christian Cailliot

  5. Marie-Cécile Le Deley and Gilles Vassal are at Gustave Roussy, 114 rue Edouard Vaillant, F-94805, Villejuif, France and University Paris-SUD, Faculté de Médecine, 63 Rue Gabriel Péri, F-94270 Le Kremlin Bicêtre, France.,

    Marie-Cécile Le Deley & Gilles Vassal

  6. Marie-Cécile Le Deley is at INSERM CSEP Team 2, 114 rue Edouard Vaillant, F-94805, Villejuif, France.,

    Marie-Cécile Le Deley

  7. Jacques Raynaud is at the ARC Foundation for Cancer Research, 9 Rue Guy Moquet, F-94805 Villejuif, France.,

    Jacques Raynaud

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Contributions

N. H-L., M. J., F. N., M-C.L-D., D. P. and G. V. researched data for this article. M-C.L-D., D. P. and G. V. wrote the article, A. B., J.-Y. B., M-C.L-D., D. P. and G. V. made a substantial contribution to the discussion of content, and all authors review and edited the manuscript before submission and during revisions.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Agnès Buzyn.

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Competing interests

The AcSé programme is funded by INCA and ARC Foundation for Cancer Research. The clinical trials are sponsored by Unicancer. G.V. is chief-investigator of AcSé-crizotinib and J.-Y. B. is chief-investigator of AcSé-vémurafénib.

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Buzyn, A., Blay, JY., Hoog-Labouret, N. et al. Equal access to innovative therapies and precision cancer care. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 13, 385–393 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2016.31

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