Tempus, a leader in artificial intelligence and precision medicine, announced new testing solutions to help physicians identify patients with HER2 or FOLR1 expressing tumors, which may make such patients eligible for targeted therapies such as antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs). HER2 and FOLR1 testing by immunohistochemistry (IHC) is now available for all solid tumor cancers as an add-on to the company’s xT or xR next-generation sequencing assays.

ADCs are an expanding class of therapies designed to target and kill tumor cells while sparing healthy cells. These very targeted therapies are available to patients with specific indications, including HER2 and FOLR1 expressing tumors. Tempus is now offering these two IHC tests, which are recommended in clinical guidelines for several cancer types and may be ordered for other cancer types at the clinician’s discretion. The new offerings further expand Tempus’ comprehensive portfolio of testing solutions that is designed to help physicians maximize and optimize treatment options for each of their patients. 

The portfolio expansion aligns well with the most recent approval by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) of trastuzumab deruxtecan for the treatment of adult patients with unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive (IHC 3+) solid tumors who have received prior systemic treatment and have no satisfactory alternative treatment options. In addition, reflex to ERBB2 FISH is available for breast and gastric (including colorectal) cancer patients. This approval highlights the importance of comprehensive HER2 testing in guiding targeted therapy decisions. FOLR1 testing is recommended for patients with epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer.¹

“Expanding our offerings to include tests for specific, predictive biomarkers, like HER2, can help reveal a patient’s responsiveness to therapies that have the potential to positively impact their outcome,” said Ezra Cohen, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Oncology at Tempus. “These are the kind of critical tools that we are arming physicians with as new, targeted therapies are made available for patients.”

About Tempus

Tempus is a technology company advancing precision medicine through the practical application of artificial intelligence in healthcare. With one of the world’s largest libraries of multimodal data, and an operating system to make that data accessible and useful, Tempus provides AI-enabled precision medicine solutions to physicians to deliver personalized patient care and in parallel facilitates discovery, development and delivery of optimal therapeutics. The goal is for each patient to benefit from the treatment of others who came before by providing physicians with tools that learn as the company gathers more data. For more information, visit tempus.com.

 ¹ NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology. Ovarian. Version 1.2024.