Tessa Sandberg, Domain Expert at Diaceutics, will be presenting new research at ESMO 2025: “Impact of molecular test result report and its turnaround time on patient’s access to personalized therapy in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (aNSCLC): a comparative study between Italy and the United Kingdom. Discover more in our Q&A blog below, where Tessa shares the motivation behind the study, key findings, and what they mean for improving patient access to personalized therapy.
Q1. What were the main objectives of this study?
Our globally recognized Practice Gaps paper, published in JCO Precision Oncology, revealed that 64.4% of NSCLC patients in the US miss out on appropriate therapy due to seven critical gaps from sample collection to testing and treatment decision. Building on those insights, for the ESMO poster we asked: do similar barriers exist in Europe? To find out, we compared test reporting in two very different systems: centralized testing in the UK and decentralized testing in Italy to understand how these infrastructures impact patient access to personalized therapy.
Q2. What prompted you to investigate test result reporting between decentralized and centralized testing approaches?
Great question, so why did we investigate the test result reporting step. This is because the laboratory, often a forgotten stakeholder, plays a critical role in the testing and treatment journey. Personalized therapy for advanced NSCLC depends on timely and clear molecular test reports.
And why did we look at centralized vs decentralized testing approaches? We wanted to understand whether different testing infrastructures affect turnaround times and report clarity, given the diversity of markets in Europe.
Q3. What were the key findings?
One key finding was that TAT of molecular test reports were within clinical actionable timeframes. However, delays have different causes in the UK vs Italy. For instance, in Italy, labs still rely on single-gene testing, which contributes to longer timelines. In the UK, logistics issues are responsible for longer TAT.
In the UK, the centralized model had an average turnaround of 12 days, with delays caused by transport and workload, often forcing patients to start chemotherapy before results arrived. In Italy, decentralized testing was faster at 12 days on average, but inconsistent across labs, with many still relying on single-gene testing. Across both countries, oncologists reported that results were too late in up to 17% of cases, and 10% of reports were unclear - with Italian reports often missing therapy guidance.
Q4. What do these findings mean for improving patient access to personalized therapy?
This study showed that reporting still needs improvement, but we need to understand the bigger picture: From sample collection through to testing, and treatment, each step impacts access to personalized therapy. So where is the biggest gaps that needs to be fixed?
Don’t miss Tessa presenting this research on Saturday 18th October at ESMO. Schedule a meeting with our team at ESMO to explore how these findings, and discuss how Diaceutics can support your launch strategy.
Schedule a meeting here: lp.diaceutics.com/meet-diaceutics-at-esmo-2025/
