Precision medicine has moved beyond research laboratories into routine clinical decision-making, particularly in oncology. Yet the presence of genomic testing or targeted therapies does not, by itself, indicate a market ready for large-scale adoption. Among Medicare beneficiaries with cancer, overall genomic testing increased from 6.0% in 2016 to 16.7% in 2023, but 91.4% had no recorded genomic testing in 2023. Lung cancer had the highest NGS uptake among the cancers studied, reaching 9.2% in 2023.
Precision Medicine Requires More Than a Test
The commercial opportunity begins with the diagnostic pathway but does not end there.
A market needs sufficient access to genomic testing, qualified laboratories and clinicians who can interpret results. More importantly, the results need to lead to an actionable treatment decision.
The FDA defines companion diagnostics as tests that provide information essential to the safe and effective use of a corresponding therapy. Its current database includes tests covering biomarkers across cancers and other therapeutic areas, demonstrating the increasing integration of diagnostics with treatment selection.
Market readiness can therefore be assessed across several linked conditions:
- Availability of molecular and genomic testing
- Laboratory and sample-processing capacity
- Prevalence of actionable biomarkers
- Availability of matched therapies
- Physician familiarity with testing
- Reimbursement and patient access
- Clinical pathways for acting on results
A market with advanced sequencing but limited access to matched therapies may have scientific capability without equivalent commercial potential.
Oncology Shows Where Adoption Is Taking Hold
Cancer remains the clearest example of precision medicine moving into clinical practice.
NCI’s precision-medicine programs continue to match patients to therapies according to molecular characteristics. The NCI-MATCH program enrolled 1,201 patients across 38 treatment arms, while successor programs including ComboMATCH and MyeloMATCH continue testing treatments based on specific genetic alterations.
Clinical implementation can also produce substantial differences in treatment selection. In one large US health-system study involving 3,216 patients with advanced cancer, 49% had at least one actionable genomic biomarker associated with an approved or guideline-recommended targeted therapy or immunotherapy.
These results should not be interpreted as evidence that every oncology market is equally ready. Testing rates, treatment availability and clinical expertise vary substantially by cancer type and healthcare system.
The Commercial Opportunity Depends on the Full Treatment Pathway
For companies assessing a precision-medicine opportunity, diagnostic adoption is only one part of the analysis. A therapy may have a clearly defined biomarker population but still face limited uptake if testing is expensive, reimbursement is restrictive or physicians lack access to molecular interpretation.
The assessment should therefore consider:
- Patient pool: How many patients are potentially eligible?
- Biomarker prevalence: How frequently does the relevant molecular characteristic occur?
- Testing: Can eligible patients obtain an appropriate test?
- Treatment: Is a targeted or biomarker-guided therapy available?
- Access: Can patients obtain and afford the treatment?
- Clinical adoption: Are physicians routinely incorporating the results into treatment decisions?
Clinical eligibility and commercially addressable demand are not necessarily the same.
Where Nexdigm Sees the Market Opportunity
Nexdigm’s precision medicine market assessment can evaluate markets by connecting the diagnostic, therapeutic and clinical sides of adoption.
The analysis can examine:
- Diagnostic readiness: Testing availability, laboratory capacity and technology adoption
- Biomarker opportunity: Disease populations and prevalence of actionable alterations
- Therapeutic landscape: Approved, emerging and competing precision therapies
- Clinical adoption: Physician practices, treatment pathways and specialist capabilities
- Market access: Reimbursement, affordability and regulatory conditions
- Commercial potential: Addressable patient populations, competitive intensity and route to market
This provides a more practical assessment of whether a precision-medicine opportunity is ready for expansion, requires further infrastructure development or remains concentrated in specialist centres.
From Market Potential to Readiness
Nexdigm can evaluate the opportunity through five stages:
- 01 | Size the Addressable Population
Estimate patient volumes by disease, biomarker and treatment eligibility. - 02 | Assess Diagnostic Infrastructure
Evaluate testing availability, laboratory networks, turnaround times and access across target markets. - 03 | Map the Treatment Landscape
Assess approved therapies, emerging competitors, biomarker-linked indications and treatment alternatives. - 04 | Measure Clinical Adoption
Examine physician testing practices, specialist availability and integration of genomic results into treatment pathways. - 05 | Rank Market Readiness
Compare markets according to patient potential, diagnostic access, treatment availability, adoption and commercial feasibility.
The framework helps distinguish markets where precision medicine is already scalable from those where infrastructure or adoption still limits the opportunity.
A Market Can Be Genomically Advanced Without Being Commercially Ready
A specialty-pharmaceutical company evaluated precision-medicine opportunities across 5 markets. Nexdigm compared biomarker prevalence, testing infrastructure, therapy availability and physician adoption, identifying 2 markets with sufficient diagnostic and clinical readiness for near-term commercialization and 3 requiring further market development.
Precision medicine is most commercially attractive when diagnostics, therapies and clinical adoption develop together. Nexdigm helps pharmaceutical, diagnostic and healthcare companies assess these conditions market by market, quantify the addressable opportunity and determine where investment or commercialization is most justified.
To take the next step, simply visit our Request a Consultation page and share your requirements with us.
Harsh Mittal
+91-8422857704
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