Genetic testing will decide who gets breakthrough cancer drug Erbitux in Australia

6 July 2010

Merck KGaA's colorectal cancer drug is set to propel Australian health authorities headlong into a new era of personalized medicine, in which the results of genetic testing determine which patients have access to the therapy, reports the Sidney Herald Tribune.

The drug, Erbitux (cetuximab), has no chance of working in 40% of bowel cancer patients. Their tumors feature a gene mutation that prevents the molecule from blocking its target cancer growth pathway, the newspaper explains.

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