AccScience Publishing / ITPS / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/ITPS026090008
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Personalized treatment of the non-responder population: The biggest unmet clinical demand in precision medicine

Shu-Ti Lin1 ,  Sharon S. Yeh1 ,  Chen Yeh1*
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1 OncoDxRx, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
INNOSC Theranostics and Pharmacological Sciences, 026090008 https://doi.org/10.36922/ITPS026090008
Received: 24 February 2026 | Revised: 18 June 2026 | Accepted: 2 July 2026 | Published online: 15 July 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Current approaches to therapy design and treatment strategies fall short in addressing a critical challenge of precision medicine: only a small fraction of treated patients respond to precision-targeted drugs. An even more concerning limitation is our present inability to predict drug responses for non-responders—especially in life-threatening conditions such as aggressive cancers, where negative biomarker results may leave insufficient time to pursue alternative treatments. Consequently, accurately predicting therapeutic responses in these high-risk patients or identifying optimal candidates for specific therapies remains a pressing and unresolved clinical need. For years, clinicians have grappled with a fundamental question: Why do some patients experience dramatic—sometimes complete—clinical responses, while most see little to no benefit? The challenge lies in identifying non-responders early and determining what interventions could convert them into responders. Emerging research is now shedding light on why certain cancer patients fail to respond to precision therapies, offering hope for guiding patients and physicians toward more effective treatments. One particularly promising frontier is the use of gene–drug mapping technologies, which could revolutionize care by transforming non-responders into responders. Additionally, understanding the interplay between cancer cells and the immune system may unlock the full potential of precision medicine, bringing us closer to effective therapies for every cancer patient.

Keywords
Precision medicine
Responders
Non-responders
Therapy
Gene–drug mapping
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
All authors are employees of OncoDxRx, which has a commercial and/or proprietary interest in PGA technology discussed in this article. The authors declare this relationship as a potential competing interest.
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INNOSC Theranostics and Pharmacological Sciences, Electronic ISSN: 2705-0823 Print ISSN: 2705-0734, Published by AccScience Publishing
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