Merck Serono study shows UK lags behind on personalised medicine

Merck Serono has carried out research which suggests that the UK could be performing better in terms of providing personalised bowel cancer therapies.

Based on a study of patient records from more than 4,200 patients, only 44 percent of metastatic bowel cancer sufferers are being tested for the KRAS biomarker in Britain, compared to 81 percent in France and Spain.

KRAS is an important biomarker that identifies whether metastatic bowel cancer patients may benefit from potentially life-prolonging anti-EGFR therapies, such as Merck Serono's Erbitux.

However, the number of UK patients benefitting from this testing has increased fourfold since Merck Serono began contributing funding for KRAS tests in September 2011.

Mark Flannagan, chief executive of Beating Bowel Cancer, said: "It's vital that patients are given all the options and this test gives clinicians the knowledge to see whether patients are suitable for potentially life-prolonging drugs."

Last month, the company reported data from an Erbitux trial showing the medication can offer benefits to head and neck cancer patients, regardless of their human papillomavirus tumour status.