William R. Sellers, MD, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Co-Chair of the EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer, commented: “This study is a good example of how our increasing ability to study the human genome easily and in depth is producing findings that may have an impact, either immediately or fairly soon, on patient health and outcomes. Side effects from bevacizumab can be extremely debilitating, so if we can use a simple genetic test to identify which patients will experience toxicities and take appropriate measures to avoid them, this could help to provide better and more effective treatments for our patients.” 

DISCLOSURE: Dr. Sellers is a board member for and holds equity in Ideaya Biosciences, Civetta Therapeutics, and Bluebird Bio; has consulted for Array, Astex, Dynamo Therapeutics, Epidarex Capital, Ipsen, PearlRiver Therapeutics, Sanofi, -Servier, and Syndax Pharmaceuticals; and receives research funding from Pfizer, Merck, Ideaya Biosciences, and Ridgeline Discovery.