Celebrating meaningful progress and exploring where the next opportunities now lie.
The precision oncology patient journey has undergone significant evolution over the last four years. During this time, the industry has expanded testing availability, improved biopsy pathways, introduced more comprehensive assays, and accelerated the integration of emerging biomarkers into clinical practice.
This progress is the result of years of investment, collaboration, and commitment across life sciences, laboratories, and clinical teams. The updated Practice Gaps analysis shows that this work is having a real, measurable impact, particularly in the early stages of the diagnostic pathway.
At the same time, the data reveals that the overall journey remains complex, and that some barriers have simply shifted downstream.
1. Clear Progress: Early Pathway Improvements Are Taking Hold
One of the most encouraging findings in the updated analysis is that fewer patients are being lost during the earliest steps of the pathway. Improvements in biopsy quality, specimen adequacy, and test performance reflect the collective efforts of teams across the ecosystem who have worked hard to standardize processes, expand access, and raise awareness.
These upstream gains show that industry‑wide investment is paying off, patients are more likely than ever to receive a viable sample, undergo appropriate testing, and receive a usable result.
This momentum is a testament to the dedication of the entire precision medicine community over the last four years.
For a closer look at the areas showing the strongest improvement, the updated Practice Gaps report provides full detail. Download Now.
2. A Shifting Landscape: New Barriers Are Emerging Further Downstream
While early‑pathway improvements are a major win, the updated analysis also highlights an important shift: the biggest challenges now sit later in the patient journey, particularly around the transition from test result to treatment decision.
This does not diminish the progress made upstream. Rather, it reflects the natural evolution of a maturing precision medicine ecosystem. As testing becomes more reliable and more widely adopted, the bottleneck moves to the next most complex point in the pathway.
Downstream challenges today are shaped by:
The growing number of biomarkers
Increasing co‑positivity and sequencing considerations
Expanding therapeutic options
Variability in how results are interpreted and actioned
The time‑sensitive nature of decision‑making
These pressures are not a reflection of effort, they are a reflection of progress.
They indicate that the system has reached a new level of sophistication, where more nuanced support is required at the moment where clinical intention becomes action.
The updated report explores these downstream shifts in more detail. Download Now.
3. The Patient Journey Is Stronger, But Not Yet Seamless
The combination of improvements and emerging complexities paints a balanced picture:
The ecosystem is delivering stronger diagnostics than ever before
More patients are successfully entering and moving through the early pathway
Industry efforts have meaningfully raised awareness and improved infrastructure
At the same time:
Some long‑standing areas of variation still exist
Turnaround time remains a pressure point in certain scenarios
Treatment decision‑making has become the primary area where patients risk falling off the pathway
These dynamics reflect a field that is advancing, expanding, and shifting, and they point to where the next phase of opportunity now lies.
To understand how these elements interact across all seven steps of the pathway, we recommend downloading the full Practice Gaps publications. Download Now.
4. A Forward‑Looking Perspective: What This Means for the Next Four Years
The updated analysis reinforces a powerful message:
Progress has happened.
It is meaningful.
And it has created the foundation for the next wave of improvement.
The challenge ahead is no longer about increasing testing adoption, it is about strengthening translation:
Supporting clinicians at the point of interpretation
Reducing variability in ordering and reporting
Ensuring biomarker insights reliably inform treatment decisions
Building decision pathways that keep pace with a rapidly expanding therapeutic landscape
This is not a setback, it is the natural next chapter of a field that continues to grow in complexity and capability.
And importantly, the insights from the Practice Gaps reports show exactly where the greatest opportunities now sit for the industry to build on the progress already achieved.
Progress Worth Celebrating and Insight Worth Exploring
Over the past four years, the precision oncology community has moved the needle in measurable ways. Testing is stronger, more consistent, and more widely adopted. Clinicians and labs have built better systems. Awareness is growing, and diagnostic infrastructure is maturing.
The updated Practice Gaps analysis recognises this progress, while also pointing to the emerging areas where coordinated effort can have the greatest impact next.
For an overview on both papers, download our infographic. Download Now.
