GREENVILLE, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Thanks to an innovative Greenville Health System partnership with Selah Genomics, a new gene-based diagnostic test is paving the way for more precise and potentially far more effective cancer treatment at GHS.

This is the first time that this type of advanced genetic test has been developed, validated and employed in a clinical setting in South Carolina to empower oncologists to tailor specific treatment plans based on the particular molecular profile of each patients cancer.

Selahs PrecisionPath test, which was developed with clinical guidance from GHS oncologists, addresses the game-changing redefinition of the classification of cancer.

When it comes to treatment, one size does not fit all anymore, said Joe Stephenson, MD, medical director of GHS Institute for Translational Oncology Research (ITOR). Cancers have long been categorized and treated by the anatomic site of origin of the cancer for example, lung or breast but emerging science shows that we have exhausted what can be achieved with that approach.

Selahs Clinical Genomics Center at ITOR was founded to focus on the mutations, or alterations, in the genes that drive a persons cancer and to help clinicians, academic researchers and drug developers better target exactly what drugs would work best on an individuals specific cancer. This new type of genomic medicine uses molecular information about an individual as part of a physicians diagnostic or therapeutic decision-making.

So far, PrecisionPath has been performed on six common cancers: non-small-cell lung cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer and melanoma. This powerful new capability, emerging from within the GHS Cancer Institute and ITOR, is the next logical step in GHS programmatic approach to personalizing cancer care.

This pilot program marks the start of routine molecular screening of cancer patients at GHS, said Dr. Larry Gluck, the medical director of the GHS Cancer Institute. Our community will enjoy accelerated access to promising new drugs that are usually only available at a handful of prominent academic cancer centers. It will be an enormous potential benefit for cancer patients from our entire region since they may now be matched to specific new medications being studied here or elsewhere.

PrecisionPath is built on Life Technologies' revolutionary new Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine and is provided via its laboratories in the NEXT Innovation Center and at ITORs Innovation Zone. We are thrilled to leverage a powerful new generation of gene sequencers to enable focused clinical sequencing within GHS. And the pace of progress is accelerating, said Selah Genomics CEO Michael Bolick.

Using this in-house capability, GHS doctors are now developing treatment plans for cancer patients more quickly and more effectively. Selah is able to provide results to GHS doctors within a week, far faster than alternatives in the market. By specifically targeting the genetic makeup of each patients cancer, physicians can find a better treatment match, which may include a clinical trial, while also avoiding more toxic treatments and their damaging side effects. This test is also being used as a routine screening tool to facilitate enrollment on the next generation of targeted clinical trials.

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GHS, ITOR and Selah to Transform Cancer Care with Genetic Testing

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