Will this work for me? A test that identifies drugs one’s cancer responds to

WITH cancer being the number one killer in Singapore, the need to receive appropriate treatment upon diagnosis is crucial. To that end, a test developed by local biotechnology and medical innovation company, Invitrocue, will help improve treatment response by quickly identifying how well a patient’s cancer will respond to various drugs.

The Onco-PDO is the first clinical cancer drug screening test in Singapore that personalises treatments by testing Patient Derived Organoids – which replicate the patient’s tumour behaviour – against chemotherapeutic drugs to see how well they respond. Within just 10 to 14 days, it identifies effective drugs for cancer patients, helping to improve their treatment response, reduce overall treatment cost, and save precious time.

In contrast, traditional laboratory procedures for testing patient-derived cancer cells against chemotherapy drugs can take months, and are typically used for research purposes rather than clinical applications.