Moving beyond genetic blueprints to actual treatment response testing
Imagine sitting in a neuro-oncologist's office, hearing the words "glioblastoma" and "median survival of 12-18 months." Then comes an even more devastating choice: which toxic chemotherapy regimen to pursue, with your doctor honestly admitting that it's essentially a guessing game. For the approximately 300,000 people worldwide diagnosed each year with glioblastoma, the most aggressive and lethal primary brain tumor in adults, this terrifying scenario is reality 1 8 .
The addition of temozolomide to standard therapy extends life by just 2.5 months on average 9 .
Functional precision medicine (FPM) represents a revolutionary approach that's beginning to transform glioblastoma treatment.
FPM tests how live cancer cells respond to drugs directly—moving from predicting response to actually observing it 7 .
A groundbreaking study published in 2025 exemplifies the power of functional precision medicine in tackling recurrent glioblastoma 3 .
| Drug | Sensitive Tumors | Resistant Tumors |
|---|---|---|
| Temozolomide | 35% | 65% |
| Regorafenib | 77% | 23% |
Tumors sensitive to regorafenib
Months progression-free survival (sensitive tumors)
Months progression-free survival (resistant tumors)
Randomized Phase 2 study with 240 patients across five Austrian centers, testing FPM in newly diagnosed glioblastoma 4 .
UCLA researchers identified ABBV-155 with BCL-XL targeting, producing tumor shrinkage in preclinical models 5 .
Preclinical SuccessInnovative methods including focused ultrasound, intra-arterial infusion, and convection-enhanced delivery 1 .
Delivery Solutions"Many cancer treatments are based on the genetic profile of a patient's tumor. However, genomic features alone can't always predict how a tumor will respond to a therapy. This study explores a new approach that looks beyond the tumor's genetic blueprint."
Functional precision medicine represents more than just another incremental advance in glioblastoma treatment—it constitutes a fundamental rethinking of how we match patients with therapies. By complementing genetic information with direct observation of treatment responses, FPM offers a more complete picture of tumor behavior and vulnerability.
For the first time in decades, neuro-oncologists may soon have more to offer their patients than difficult choices and guarded prognoses—replacing them with data-driven treatment plans and genuine hope.