Cancer Research UK: A "golden era" is dawning for cancer treatment

In coming weeks UK officials will launch a major new program aimed at genetically testing the tumors of 9,000 newly diagnosed cancer patients. Experts in the field call it an ambitious new effort aimed at matching each patient with the best available drug for their particular type of cancer.

Investigators believe it will help accelerate development of new, more carefully targeted cancer drugs. And the head of Cancer Research UK cites the program as an example of the dawning of a "golden era" in cancer research and treatment as the country heads for a full roll-out of genetic testing in all cases.

Harpal Kumar tells the Guardian that there has been "an explosion in our understanding of what cancer is, why it happens, why it doesn't happen in some people and why it moves around the body." And the head of the big cancer charity is convinced that the way cancer is treated is heading for a change in the tide as our sea of cancer knowledge grows exponentially.

"It is not hyperbolic to say that this is the future of treatment," says Kumar. "This is the future of medicine. This will not just be true in cancer but across medicine more generally."

- here's the story from the Guardian

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