Method for predicting a suitable therapy

A method for selecting a suitable anti-cancer therapy for treating a cancer patient, the method comprising:

• a) measuring a response output for each anti-cancer candidate drug from an initial set of candidate anti-cancer drugs in an ex vivo sample obtained from the cancer patient at one or more predetermined doses below clinically approved doses of the candidate drug;
• b) determining a minimum set of test combinatorial therapies from the initial set of candidate anti-cancer drugs;
• wherein each test combinatorial therapy comprises zero, one or more candidate anti-cancer drugs at predetermined doses below clinically approved doses;
• wherein the minimum set of test combinatorial therapies is determined according to a composite experimental design;
• c) measuring a response output for each test combinatorial therapy in the set in the ex vivo sample or another ex vivo sample obtained from the cancer patient to determine a relationship between the response output and the corresponding predetermined doses of the candidate drugs below clinically approved doses, the relationship including one or more components indicative of respective drug-drug interactions;
• and
• d) selecting the suitable anti-cancer therapy for treating the cancer patient based on the derived relationship.

A method for screening a drug combination for treating a cancer patient, the method comprises:

• a) measuring a response output for each candidate anti-cancer drug from an initial set of candidate anti-cancer drugs in an ex vivo sample obtained from the cancer patient at one or more predetermined doses below clinically approved doses of the candidate drug;
• b) determining a minimum set of test combinatorial anti-cancer therapies from the initial set of candidate drugs;
• wherein each test combinatorial therapy comprises zero, one or more candidate drugs at predetermined doses below clinically approved doses;
• wherein the minimum set of test combinatorial therapies is determined according to a composite experimental design;
• c) measuring a response output for each test combinatorial therapy in the set in the ex vivo sample or another ex vivo sample obtained from the cancer patient to determine a relationship between the response output and the corresponding predetermined doses of the candidate drugs below clinically approved doses, the relationship including one or more components indicative of respective drug-drug interactions;
• and
• d) selecting the anti-cancer drug combination for treating the cancer patient based on the derived relationship.

A method of treating a cancer patient, the method comprising:

• a) measuring a response output for each candidate anti-cancer drug from an initial set of candidate anti-cancer drugs in an ex vivo sample obtained from the cancer patient at one or more predetermined doses below clinically ed doses of the candidate drug;
• b) determining a minimum set of test combinatorial therapies from the initial set of candidate anti-cancer drugs;
• wherein each test combinatorial therapy comprises zero, one or more candidate drugs at predetermined doses below clinically approved doses;
• wherein the minimum set of test combinatorial therapies is determined according to a composite experimental design;
• c) measuring a response output for each test combinatorial therapy in the set in the ex vivo sample or another ex vivo sample obtained from the cancer patient to determine a relationship between the response output and the corresponding predetermined doses of the candidate drugs below clinically approved doses, the relationship including one or more components indicative of respective drug-drug interactions;
• d) selecting a suitable anti-cancer therapy for treating the cancer patient based on the derived relationship;
• and
• e) treating the cancer patient with the anti-cancer therapy.