More than 26,000 people have enrolled in a nationwide Australian programme led by David Thomas that launched in 2023. The Australian government funded this initiative to provide comprehensive genomic profiling for patients with advanced cancers.

David Thomas claims that approximately 48.5 per cent of the participants are receiving a strong recommendation for treatment based on their genetic data. Thomas also states that over 30 per cent of pancreatic cancer patients who receive a good treatment recommendation survive past five years.

The programme follows a 2016 trial by the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, which enrolled nearly 4,000 people with advanced cancers. Researchers at the Garvan Institute found that more than a third of those trial participants possessed telltale changes in at least one gene.

Cancer is fundamentally a genetic disease, according to David Thomas. Previous discoveries identified the EGFR gene as relevant to certain lung cancers and the BCR and ABL1 genes in chronic myeloid leukaemia.

The introduction of Imatinib in 2001 led to the chronic myeloid leukaemia survival rate shooting up to almost 90 per cent eight years after diagnosis. Stephen Huff, who was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, saw every tumour site shrink or disappear completely after being treated with alectinib.

Other targeted treatments include Daraxonrasib, which received US approval, and Vorasidenib, which targets mutations in the IDH1 and IDH2 genes. A clinical trial showed that people with gliomas caused by IDH1 and IDH2 mutations were 61 per cent less likely to experience worsening of their cancer.

Japan, Germany, Norway and Denmark have already made comprehensive genomic profiling a routine part of public healthcare systems. While most people with advanced cancers in the UK are eligible for such profiling through NHS systems, the NHS reports results for only about 1 to 10 genes depending on cancer type and treatment availability.

Matthew Krebs has advocated for NHS England to expand the reported panel by adding 30 research genes.