Chemosensitivity tests to guide cancer treatment
Chemosensitivity tests reveals which anti-cancer drugs are effective at killing each patient’s cancer cells and which agents are not effective. The most promising drug regimen can be selected for each cancer patient, increasing the odds for treatment success. At the same time, ineffective drugs are avoided.
This spares the patient needless exposure to harmful side effects from drugs that can’t possibly help them. Further, valuable treatment time is not wasted on expensive but ineffective treatments
Chemosensitivity Tests can also show up drugs designed for a cancer type other than yours that will actually treat you.
Where can I get a Chemosensitivity Test
ChemoSNiP
ChemoSNiP is a cutting-edge pharmacogenomic test that analyzes how each patient’s body metabolizes and responds to specific cancer drugs, such as chemotherapy agents. The ChemoSNiP test helps determine:
The best possible drug combinations for safe and effective cancer therapy
Which medications are likely to be most effective for a specific patient
Provides insights on how drugs are metabolized to prevent excessive toxicity.
Test available from: R.G.C.C.
CTR-Test
The Cancer Therapy Response-Test (CTR-Test®) is a laboratory examination method, which is carried out before a chemotherapy. It is an in vitro diagnostic product capable of predicting resistance to chemotherapy of an individual patient with high accuracy (>95%) on the basis of living tumor cells, which have been removed from the patient.
Test available from: Therapy Select (Germany)
The ATP-TCA (tumor chemosensitivity assay)
The ATP-TCA (tumor chemosensitivity assay), an ex vivo test, is one of them that can determine a possible chemo-/biopharmaceutical sensitivity. In the DCBS, the isolated tumor cells in a cell culture are treated with the same cytotoxics and biopharmaceuticals (alone or in combination with others) that are being considered for the patient’s treatment. The test uses the ATP indicator for living cells to measure to which degree the cancer cells have been destroyed by the drugs.
Test available from: NextGen Oncology
Chemosensitivity Testing
- assessment of cancer cell response to more than 90 chemotherapeutic and targeted therapies,
- assessment of response to over 50 natural substances,
- selected tumor markers supporting a broader biological evaluation of the disease.
Test available from: Vorreiter Clinic (Germany)
Chemo-Scale
- chemo-scale directly tests the effect of chemotherapy / anti-cancer drugs on the patient’s tumour cells. This facilitates the adaptation of the treatment plan to the sensitivity and resistance patterns of the tumour cells.
- chemo-scale is performed on circulating tumour associated cells (C-TACs) isolated from peripheral blood. A control analysis is included.
Test available from: Datar Cancer Genetics (Germany)
Maintrac® Drug Sensitivity Testing
Assessment of the efficacy of therapeutic compounds, cytotoxic agents, and hyperthermia. Before treatment begins, circulating tumor cells in the blood can be analyzed to assess which of the proposed drugs are most effective in targeting them.This enables the selection of the most effective treatment, personalized and optimized for the individual patient.
Test available from: Maintrac (Asia & Europe)
Functional Profiling
By measuring how cancer cells respond to drugs, we can find one or more therapies that kill cancer cells but are least toxic to the patient. This helps you or your oncologist select the most effective and least toxic treatment for your cancer, even in stage 4 or aggressive cancers. Proven with decades of peer-reviewed scientific research of more than 10,000 patient studies. Test available from: Nagourney Cancer Institute (USA)
ChemoINTEL™
ChemoINTEL™ is a functional multi-parametric chemosensitivity assay measuring the real-time kinetic molecular and morphologic apoptotic response in isolated tumor cells (dissociated solid tumors or hematologic cancers) induced by cytotoxic agents, targeted molecular therapeutics, biologics, or combination therapy.
Test available from: Pierian Biosciences (USA)
Tumor drug-response testing
Predictive Oncology uses a ground-breaking approach with disruptive technology to improve the oncology drug discovery process and make future predictions in drug response with confidence. Our Proof of Concept study found that we can predict if a cancer tumor sample will respond to a certain drug compound with 92% accuracy through our integrated AI/ML platform that combines 150,000 clinical cases, including cryopreserved tumor samples, drug response and genomic database, with active machine learning to efficiently drive in vitro experimentation.
Test available from: Predictive oncology (USA)
This is not a complete list.
Last updated May 2026