Interesting survey (sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim) of pulmonologists and pathologists regarding barriers to adoption of biomarker testing of lung cancer patients.

Key finding:

“Both pulmonologists and pathologists said the biggest challenges with biomarker testing include not always acquiring a tissue sample that is sufficient in size (60% and 73%, respectively) or quality (31% and 39%, respectively).”

There was also significant lack of understanding of the necessary sample size for testing:

“About half of pulmonologists (41%) do not believe they have enough information about the size of tissue needed.”

While these certainly seem like addressable problems, it would be interesting to know (especially for the pathologists) how the numbers look when segmenting users of IVDs versus LDTs. Is there less ambiguity for IVD users, based on the availability of clearer protocols?

Here’s a link to the press release:

Surveys Reveal Opportunity for Medical Community to Fully Embrace Biomarker Testing in Lung Cancer.