Information for patients
Would you like to increase your chances of having an effective cancer therapy?
Cancer is as individual as people themselves. Our testing procedure is designed to help find the best possible individually tailored therapy for you.
According to an analysis by the Global Burden of Disease Cancer Collaboration, more than 20 million people globally are diagnosed with cancer every year (Kocarnik et al., 2021). This diagnosis often changes one’s entire life. Whether you are affected yourself or are a relative or friend of someone with the disease, many questions arise. In the following, we would like to provide you with answers about our offer and explain how patients can benefit from it.
The most important facts in a nutshell: watch the video to learn how Reverse Clinical Engineering® works and how you can benefit from the testing procedure.
Method
Reverse Clinical Engineering® supports your therapy planning
ASC Oncology has developed Reverse Clinical Engineering® (RCE), a test procedure that is carried out prior to your drug-based cancer therapy. It uses a piece of tumor that is removed during a biopsy or surgery. This piece of tissue is then processed in our laboratories and tumor cells are cultivated in a petri dish. We refer to these as tumor organoids or PD3D® cell cultures.
The tumor organoids serve as small copies of your individual tumor. We test different drugs and combinations of drugs on them to identify therapies that will likely be effective in treating your tumor. In addition, our test shows which drugs are very likely to be ineffective – valuable information that can save you from unsuccessful therapy, including possible side effects.
Studies have shown that the testing procedure could correctly predict drug efficacy for patients in up to 88% of cases and inefficacy in up to 100% of cases (Vlachogiannis et al., 2018; Wensink et al., 2021). In addition, it has been shown that treatments based on these results could prolong the time to tumor recurrence (Sharick et al., 2020).
This is a useful contribution to the joint decision-making process with your doctor about your therapy. The attending physician receives additional valuable information in order to find the optimal therapy for you. We accompany you on your way with our commitment, our experience and professional competence and support you through our network as well as contacts to clinics, universities, research institutes and non-profit associations.
Is the test procedure suitable for me?
You have been diagnosed with a solid tumor (e.g., carcinoma or sarcoma)
Your tumor will be surgically removed or a biopsy is planned
You will receive drug therapy
You have been diagnosed with blood cancer (leukemia) or cancer in the lymph nodes (lymphoma)
Your tumor has already been removed or a biopsy is not possible
You should not receive drug therapy
Do you have questions or are not sure if our test procedure is suitable for you? Contact us via our inquiry form or by phone, we look forward to assist you.
Workflow Reverse Clinical Engineering®
- We will be happy to advise you in a non-binding call and answer any questions you may have about our testing procedure.
- In order to be able to coordinate with your oncologist, we first need a release from confidentiality from your side. You will receive this and other important documents from us via email.
- As soon as we have received your order confirmation, we will send our shipping box with the sample tubes to your preferred address, for example to your home. You take these with you to the clinic for your surgery or biopsy appointment.
- During your tumor surgery or biopsy, a small piece of your freshly removed tumor tissue is placed in our sample tube by your surgical team and sent to our laboratory via express courier.
- We will inform you about the current status of your tumor testing, for example, when we receive your sample, when we start testing, and as soon as we have your results.
- We send the final report to you and your oncologist in accordance with data protection regulations. The physician can use the results to select the optimal therapy and likely avoid ineffective drugs. Take a look at our sample report to get an idea.
- Lastly, you and your oncologist will have an appointment to discuss the results and make a treatment decision.
It is important to us to accompany both you and your oncologist on the path to a cancer treatment that is the right one for you. Some steps we take with you, some we take with your oncologist, and for some, collaboration between everyone is critical. To help you conveniently keep track of the steps you are directly involved in, we have put together a handy checklist.
“ASC Oncology believes in me; they believe my journey is going to continue.“
Patient who has used the test procedure of ASC Oncology, February 2021
Approved quote, anonymized.
“I am very pleased and grateful that you contributed your expertise and responded in a flexible manner.“
Patient who has used the test procedure of ASC Oncology, April 2021
Approved quote, anonymized.
Offer & financing
We offer the RCE test procedure in three different packages. Our team will be happy to advise you on which package is best suited for you and support you with all questions you may have about selecting a package or financing.
We create a 3D cell culture from a freshly taken sample of your tumor. This means that we expand the tumor cells in a plastic dish in order to treat them with suitable drugs against your cancer.
We consult with your oncologist to test the drugs that he or she considers suitable in your individual case and for your cancer. Fixed combination therapies (e.g. FOLFOX) are count as one drug, all others as separate ones.
After successful testing of the agreed drugs, we evaluate the data with help of modern software. We then prepare a report for your doctor, which presents the data in a comprehensible way, and make specific suggestions for treatment – based on your individual tumor data.
In addition, the following extra options can be booked on top of each package:
We consult with your oncologist to test additional drugs that he or she considers suitable in your individual case and for your cancer.
We consult with your oncologist to test additional combination therapies that he or she considers suitable in your individual case and for your cancer.
In case you want to test other drugs at a later stage, we freeze part of your tumor models in liquid nitrogen at -200°C. This allows us to use them again if, for example, new drugs are approved for the treatment of your tumor.
We create a 3D cell culture from a freshly taken sample of your tumor. This means that we expand the tumor cells in a plastic dish in order to treat them with suitable drugs against your cancer.
Especially in the case of advanced diseases, the choice of drugs to treat your tumor is often greater than for patients with initial treatment. Therefore, we test more drugs and also combination therapies. Fixed combination therapies (e.g. FOLFOX) count as one drug, all others as separate ones.
After successful testing of the agreed drugs, we evaluate the data with help of modern software. We then prepare a report for your doctor, which presents the data in a comprehensible way, and make specific suggestions for treatment – based on your individual tumor data.
In addition, the following extra options can be booked on top of each package:
We consult with your oncologist to test additional drugs that he or she considers suitable in your individual case and for your cancer.
We consult with your oncologist to test additional combination therapies that he or she considers suitable in your individual case and for your cancer.
In case you want to test other drugs at a later stage, we freeze part of your tumor models in liquid nitrogen at -200°C. This allows us to use them again if, for example, new drugs are approved for the treatment of your tumor.
We create a 3D cell culture from a freshly taken sample of your tumor. This means that we expand the tumor cells in a plastic dish in order to treat them with suitable drugs against your cancer.
Especially in the case of advanced diseases, the choice of drugs to treat your tumor is often greater than for patients with initial treatment. Therefore, we test more drugs and also combination therapies. Fixed combination therapies (e.g. FOLFOX) count as one drug, all others as separate ones.
After successful testing of the agreed drugs, we evaluate the data with help of modern software. We then prepare a report for your doctor, which presents the data in a comprehensible way, and make specific suggestions for treatment – based on your individual tumor data.
In addition, the following extra options can be booked on top of each package:
We consult with your oncologist to test additional drugs that he or she considers suitable in your individual case and for your cancer.
We consult with your oncologist to test additional combination therapies that he or she considers suitable in your individual case and for your cancer.
In case you want to test other drugs at a later stage, we freeze part of your tumor models in liquid nitrogen at -200°C. This allows us to use them again if, for example, new drugs are approved for the treatment of your tumor.
Financing – How do I apply for cost coverage?
In Germany, private health insurers generally cover the costs of the test procedure. For those with statutory health insurance, cost coverage is also possible, but this is decided on a case-by-case basis. We are happy to share with you our insights with German health insurance companies to see how our experiences might benefit you in your country.
Decision-making – Which package is right for me?
Our packages differ in the number of drugs to be tested. They can be adapted to your disease and your individual needs. In consultation with your physician, we can jointly determine the package that is right for you. In addition, we coordinate the selection of medications with your oncologist in order to test only those options that your oncologist can prescribe for you.
Downloads
We have compiled all useful documents and relevant information for you to download here:
You have more questions?
For all your questions regarding the RCE test procedure, we are available by phone. You are also welcome to make a callback appointment via our contact form. Answers to the most frequently asked questions can also be found in our FAQs.
Collaborations
FAQ
We go one step further. Sequencing tumors, for example, can reveal changes in the genetic material that may be used as a target for treatment of your tumor. However, it’s not clear if the targeted treatment will work in your case. Recent studies have shown that only a fraction of patients (0.8 – 3%) have been able to benefit from a therapy chosen for its sequencing results (Tannock & Hickman, 2019). In contrast, ASC Oncology’s Reverse Clinical Engineering® uses a person’s own tumor model to directly test the cancer drugs’ efficacy. This allows a prediction to be made about how you will respond to therapy. Find out more about the test procedure under Science.
Your treating physician removes a small piece of cancer tissue during your surgery or biopsy and sends this directly to ASC Oncology’s laboratory. Our team of scientists multiplies the living tumor cells in the lab and grows “avatars” of your tumor, called ‘tumor organoids’. These avatars of the tumor can be used to test drugs that may be candidates for treating your tumor, allowing the most effective anticancer drug to be determined before therapy begins. Our results are an important decision-making aid for personalized anticancer therapy. Compared to following standard guideline recommended therapy, this approach has higher chances of treatment success. View a complete list of steps of the procedure here.
No, ASC Oncology does not replace your oncologist, but provides you and your doctor with additional information. Every patient and every cancer is unique. The results of the Reverse Clinical Engineering® test procedure will tell you and your oncologist which drugs are likely to be effective on your individual tumor. These additional insights increase the chance of receiving effective drug therapy right from the start and avoiding ineffective therapies along with potential side effects.
It varies. Depending on the quality of the tumor sample and the cancer entity, growing PD3D® tumor models can take different amounts of time. On average, the Reverse Clinical Engineering® test procedure takes 28 days from receiving the sample to preparing the final report.
Please do not send a sample without letting us know in advance. Please contact us at 0800 6988667 or use our online form to register a patient and send a sample. We will organize the pick-up and provide everything needed to transport it as quickly as possible – even for short-term requests. Take a look at our overview of the procedure.
ASC Oncology was founded in 2019 by leading scientists in the fields of pathology, biology, biochemistry, biotechnology, and tumor biology. We are an interdisciplinary team of experts, who together with lawyers and business information specialists, are dedicated in our fight against cancer and to advance precision oncology.
ASC Oncology benefits from years of expertise in 3D cell culture and the latest findings in the field of tumor organoid research through close collaboration with its sister company CELLphenomics, which was founded in 2014. In addition, we are supported by a top-class advisory board consisting of physicians, scientists, and patient representatives.