Earlier this year 23andMe and Genentech launched an online study of metastatic breast cancer to learn more about how genes might play a role in how a person responds to bevacizumab, also known as Avastin ®. (Avastin ® is not approved by the FDA for treatment of metastatic breast cancer.)
Since women began to sign up to participate in the study, we’ve expanded eligibility to offer more women the opportunity to participate.
We’ll be posting a few stories from patients and advocates about the study in the coming days.
We’re hoping to recruit 1,000 women living in the United States who’ve been diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer and who started treatment with bevacizumab before Jan. 1, 2012.
This study does face some challenges, but we’re being helped by our partners that include the Avon Foundation for Women, BreastCancer.Org, Living Beyond Breast Cancer, the Metastatic Breast Cancer Network, the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation, the Cancer Support Community and Facing Our Risk for Cancer Empowered (FORCE). Together we believe we can recruit women interested in joining this study.
If you have metastatic breast cancer, please consider joining this innovative study. If you know someone with metastatic breast cancer, refer her to the link so she can find out more.
23andMe’s research model holds promise because we can recruit people to participate in a study much faster than traditional methods. Our model can also eliminate some of the traditional obstacles that block people from participating in clinical trials. By combining participants’ genetic data with survey responses, we hope to discover new genetic markers for diseases, and understand why some people respond to treatment more readily than others. This information also helps our researchers explore how a person’s health is influenced by the interactions between genetics and the environment. (While this study may generate important scientific findings, participants should not expect to personally benefit from it, as the findings will not change how they are or have been treated for their disease.)
23andMe has already seen encouraging results in other ongoing research projects. We’re hopeful that this opportunity to work with Genentech in this first-of-its-kind clinical trial will yield promising results.
For more information about the InVite study email invite-study@23andme.com.