Title: Further development of and evidence generation for a precision dosing tool for optimising chemotherapy dosing in advanced prostate cancer
Funder: Department of Health and Social Care

Abstract: Part-funded by a previous Innovate UK grant, Physiomics has developed (and demonstrated to leading clinicians) a prototype decision support tool to help cancer doctors choose the optimal dose of docetaxel (a drug used to treat prostate and other cancers) for each individual patient. We know from previous research that every patient reacts differently to some cancer drugs, which means that they may need a slightly higher or lower dose to get the best effect they can. Choosing the right dose will potentially mean fewer side effects (such as infection) and a better effect of the drug in the longer term. When fully approved for use in clinical practice, the tool should help to improve patient outcomes at a low cost compared with expensive new drug treatments. This is really important in an area such as cancer which accounts for a significant amount of the total spend on healthcare in the UK. The tool is designed (as far as possible) to use data from standard blood tests that already form part of the standard treatment regimen for prostate cancer today. Using these blood tests the tool can predict the reduction in white blood cells that a patient is likely to experience (an important marker of how likely they are to get an infection) as well as the likely long term benefit of the treatment relative to the general population. The tool also allows doctors to simulate the effect of a change in dose, all of which should help them to decide what dose is best for the patient. If we are successful in this grant application, the funding would allow us to further develop the tool, register a patent and start to generate data to support the tool's use though a trial at the Portsmouth Technologies Trials Unit (PTTU). This initial trial would be focused on gathering addional information from patients undergoing treatment with docetaxel in order to confirm that the tool works and would potentially be helpful for doctors. In addition, the data gathered would support an eventual application for the tool to be approved as a medical device and enable its use in clinical practice..

Lay abstract: Part-funded by a previous Innovate UK grant, Physiomics has developed (and demonstrated to leading clinicians) a prototype decision support tool to help cancer doctors choose the optimal dose of docetaxel (a drug used to treat prostate and other cancers) for each individual patient. We know from previous research that every patient reacts differently to some cancer drugs, which means that they may need a slightly higher or lower dose to get the best effect they can. Choosing the right dose will potentially mean fewer side effects (such as infection) and a better effect of the drug in the longer term. When fully approved for use in clinical practice, the tool should help to improve patient outcomes at a low cost compared with expensive new drug treatments. This is really important in an area such as cancer which accounts for a significant amount of the total spend on healthcare in the UK. The tool is designed (as far as possible) to use data from standard blood tests that already form part of the standard treatment regimen for prostate cancer today. Using these blood tests the tool can predict the reduction in white blood cells that a patient is likely to experience (an important marker of how likely they are to get an infection) as well as the likely long term benefit of the treatment relative to the general population. The tool also allows doctors to simulate the effect of a change in dose, all of which should help them to decide what dose is best for the patient. If we are successful in this grant application, the funding would allow us to further develop the tool, register a patent and start to generate data to support the tool's use though a trial at the Portsmouth Technologies Trials Unit (PTTU). This initial trial would be focused on gathering addional information from patients undergoing treatment with docetaxel in order to confirm that the tool works and would potentially be helpful for doctors. In addition, the data gathered would support an eventual application for the tool to be approved as a medical device and enable its use in clinical practice..

Research activity codes: 4.2 EVALUATION OF MARKERS AND TECHNOLOGIES
Health categories: CANCER AND NEOPLASMS