Empowered Patient Podcast

Kat Kwiatkowski, the Senior VP of Clinical Development at Strata Oncology, has tested over 60,000 patients and used their clinical outcome data to build advanced multivariate biomarkers to better predict patient response to approved cancer treatments. Using molecular profiling data, Strata has created an immunotherapy response score leveraging DNA components and the immune gene expression components to better capture the variability and response to PD-L1 therapies. Kat explains, "People with the same cancer, meaning if they have breast or lung cancer, can have different forms of the disease. So responses to treatment can and do vary. Prior to 2012, the most popular treatment option for patients with advanced cancer was chemotherapy, which is extremely toxic. And due to rapid advancements in molecular and biotechnology, we're now able to do a few things better." "One, we're better at identifying cancers earlier, when our chances for cures are the highest. Second, we're better at characterizing the tumors, to