Jerome Madison, General Manager of Oncology at Invitae
Chapters:
0:00 Precision medicine today
5:25 Is cancer testing standard of care? 50% of lung cancer patients not getting tested
10:25 Science continually outpacing NCCN guidelines
18:40 How Invitae is addressing challenges to access
28:05 Impact of pandemic on the field
30:40 Next chapter for Invitae
Oncology has emerged as the most successful disease area for precision medicine. Last year, as the genetic testing industry went through a royal shake-up brought on mostly by external market forces, it's been no surprise that precision oncology has been touted as a core strength. As the industry now works "to be more lean and profitable"--new language one hears these days, cancer testing will be a big part of that effort.
Perhaps no company looked inward as intently as San Francisco based Invitae this past year. Their new CEO Ken Knight said last week at the annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference the company has been “stabilizing” and would “double down” on its oncology franchise. He anticipates a return to growth in the next year.
For today's show, we caught up with Invitae’s General Manager of Oncology Jerome Madison to dig into Invitae’s approach to addressing the opportunities and challenges of cancer genetic testing. Jerome is also the Host of The Precision Medicine Podcast and was involved in selling some of the first precision cancer tests. We won't say when that was, Jerome.
We begin with an overview of the industry, then quickly drill down into how Invitae has been expanding its cancer line to be a "one-stop shop" for oncologists who will at some time be able to get all the tests they need from a vial of blood. Still, there are problems with access. For example, why are less than 50% of lung cancer patients being tested? We end with Jerome’s outlook for Invitae's fit in a very lively and innovative space in medicine today.
