WEDNESDAY, Jan. 14, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- A strategy of personalized biomarker matching with individually customized drug combinations is feasible for advanced cancers, according to a study published online Jan. 8 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Jason K. Sicklick, M.D., from UC San Diego, and colleagues conducted a prospective, investigator-initiated, multidepartment/pan-cancer trial for aggressive advanced/metastatic malignancies using individually dosed drug regimens customized to co-target multiple molecular alterations. Patients had tissue and/or blood next-generation sequencing (NGS), and suggestions were made by a molecular tumor board. A matching score was used to calculate the degree of biomarker matching to drugs given.
After NGS, 210 evaluable patients received one or more U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs (mostly off-label). The researchers found that the median number of pathogenic alterations per tumor was five; unique molecular landscapes were seen in about 95 percent of patients. A total of 157 different regimens were administered, including 103 personalized combinations without established safety/dosing data. Starting doses were reduced and titrated to tolerance for previously unstudied combinations; grade 3/4 drug-related toxicities were experienced by only 6.5 percent of patients compared with 15.5 percent of those receiving established regimens. Significant/independent/linear correlations were seen for higher disease control rate and longer progression-free and overall survival with greater degrees of drug matching to alterations; no variation was seen by drug number or dosage.
"Our findings demonstrate that precision oncology at the individual level is achievable. When every patient's treatment is guided by their tumor's distinctive DNA, we can treat cancer with better accuracy," Sicklick said in a statement.
Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.