Beyond the noise: Identifying clinically relevant mutations in somatic NGS testing

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) allows the simultaneous analysis of multiple genomic alterations with therapeutic implications, paving the way for precision medicine and transforming cancer care. However, having more data comes with its own problems. Increased NGS testing has caused an exponential rise in detected variants that, coupled with the sporadic nature of somatic cancers, challenges labs to quickly and confidently identify the most clinically relevant mutations for treatment decisions. Approximately 50% of oncologists in the United States find NGS results sometimes or often difficult to interpret. Meanwhile, 31% of small- to medium-sized labs in Europe view a lack of knowledge and exposure to routine analyses and interpretation as the most critical bottleneck in NGS testing.