Do you feel that more frequent genomic sequencing will be cost-effective in the management of high-risk pediatric cancers?

Currently, the increased utilization of tumor genomic sequencing in pediatric cancer (which I assume you mean by “more frequent sequencing”) has resulted in more companies and academic practices implementing NGS platforms and on-site sequencing. This increased clinical use leads to an increased number of companies providing the same testing, which ultimately results in more competitive pricing. Furthermore, by helping to confirm a diagnosis, genomic sequencing of a newly diagnosed patient’s tumo...

I imagine this answer, as often is the case in the setting of great complexity, is "it depends." Genomic sequencing is far less expensive than it was previously, but it remains rather costly. And, papers such as the one by Summers et al. describe success at identifying "actionable" genomic alterations, but what one might define as actionable is quite variable (and is largely defined by clinicians and researchers, not by patients and families). Considering this, alongside the fact that many of th...