Deerfield
About Deerfield

Launched in 1994, Deerfield Management Company is an investment firm dedicated to advancing healthcare through information, investment, and philanthropy—all toward the end goal of cures for disease, improved quality of life, and reduced cost of care.

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Investment

Supporting companies across the healthcare ecosystem with flexible funding models…

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Information

Delivering market research to the Deerfield team, its portfolio companies and other partners.

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Philanthropy

A New York City-based not-for-profit devoted to advancing innovative health care initiatives.

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Portfolio Companies

Deerfield generally maintains a combined portfolio of more than 150 private and public investments across the life science, medical device, diagnostic, digital health and health service industries at all stages of evolution from start-up to mature company.

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Research Collaborations

Deerfield partners with leading academic research centers, providing critical funding and expertise to further sustain and accelerate the commercialization of discoveries toward meaningful societal impact by advancing cures for disease.

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Strategic Partners

As a strategic partner, Deerfield offers capital, scientific expertise, business operating support, and unique access to innovation.

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Deerfield Foundation

The Deerfield Foundation is a New York City-based not-for-profit organization whose mission is to improve health, accelerate innovation and promote human equity.

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Cure Campus

Cure is a 12-story innovation campus in New York City that intends to bring together innovators from academia, government, industry, and the not-for-profit sectors to advance human health and accelerate the fight against disease.

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Cure Programming

Cure has a series of expert lectures intended to advance thought in healthcare, management, innovation, policy, and other relevant subjects. This fosters growth and education for those at Cure and its guests.

Events at the Cure

Use of FDA-approved vs. lab-developed tests in advanced non-small cell lung cancer

Background

Molecular testing is central to the management of many cancers. We measured the extent to which FDA-approved and lab-developed tests (LDTs) are used in stage IV adenocarcinoma non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, with a focus on EGFR mutations and ALKrearrangements.

Methods

A retrospective chart review of NSCLC patients was conducted between April and September of 2015. A representative sample of US oncologists was asked to complete an online form containing fields for anonymized patient information, including year of diagnosis, whether molecular testing was performed, and if so, which markers were tested, type of test used, and test location. 8,129 NSCLC-treating oncologists in the US were invited to participate in the study. Oncologists were eligible to participate if they personally managed at least 5 NSCLC patients per month, and diagnosed at least one NSCLC patients in the past 12 months

Results

Information on 765 patient records was obtained from the 153 physicians who met eligibility criteria. Histological subtype split was as follows: 76% of patients had adenocarcinoma, 19% had squamous cell carcinoma and 5% had other types. Among the 579 patients with adenocarcinoma, 95% and 84% were tested for EGFR mutations and ALK-rearrangements, respectively. Sample was further reduced to only include patients for which the type of test was known, and whose diagnostic was performed after FDA approval of the relevant test (May 14, 2013 for EGFR and August 26, 2011 for ALK), resulting in 424 patients for EGFR, and 399 for ALK. 87% of adenocarcinoma patients were tested with non-FDA-approved tests for EGFR, and 49% for ALK.

Conclusions

This study highlights the prevalence of non-FDA-approved testing in the treatment of lung cancer. Further evaluation of the comparability of approved and unapproved tests currently being used interchangeably is needed to mitigate uncharacterized variability between tests.