Personalized Treatments for Cancer Are Revolutionizing Patient Care

PORTLAND, Oregon, June 15, 2010 - Raju Kucherlapati, Professor of Genetics at Harvard University-where he
pioneered the use of genomic data in clinical decision making-will be
addressing the Controlled Release Society on the subject of recent
revolutionary advancements in personalized treatments for cancer patients.

"If you were diagnosed with non small cell lung cancer before 2003, there
were not many treatment choices available to you," says Professor
Kucherlapati. "If you are diagnosed with the same type of cancer today, it is
most likely that the pathologist would order a series of genetic tests on the
biopsy or surgically resected sample." The results of these tests would then
be used to develop individually tailored approaches to patient treatment.

According to Professor Kucherlapati, the genetic tests performed on the
tumor tissue would include the mutational status of EGFR, K-RAS, B-RAF,
EML-ALK4 translocation, ErbB2 amplification, and perhaps others. Depending on
the test results, a variety of treatments tailored to the specific type of
tumor identified may be recommended by the oncologist.

For example, if the tumor being tested has certain types of EGFR
mutations and does not have a K-RAS mutation, the oncologist may decide to
treat the patient with a class of drugs called tyrosine kinase inhibitors. If
the tumor has ErbB2 amplification, the patient may be recommended to enroll
in a clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of Herceptin-a drug approved for
treatment of certain breast cancer patients. If the tumor has an EML-ALK4
translocation, the patient may be recommended to enter a different clinical
trial for a drug being developed by Pfizer to treat patients with this
particular type of tumor.

Using these types of approaches, cancer treatments are being developed
that are tailored to work best for each type of patient-not just for lung
cancer, but for many solid tumors. This type of personalized medicine is
revolutionizing patient care.

Raju Kucherlapati will deliver his speech, Genetics and Genomics in
Clinical Medicine, at 8:00 AM on Monday, July 12, at the 37th Annual Meeting
& Exposition of the Controlled Release Society (CRS), in the Oregon
Convention Center, located in Portland, Oregon.

The Controlled Release Society (CRS) is an international society focused
on the science and technologies for delivery of bioactive agents in
pharmaceutical, non-pharmaceutical active ingredients, and in
veterinary/animal-health related fields. The CRS Annual Meeting & Exposition
is the internationally recognized conference for scientists and business
development professionals in controlled release and delivery fields. For more
information, please visit www.controlledrelease.org.

If you'd like more information about this topic, or to schedule an
interview with Raju Kucherlapati, please contact Linda Schmitt at
+1-651-994-3828 or email Linda at lschmitt@scisoc.org.

Linda Schmitt, +1-651-994-3828, lschmitt at scisoc.org