Genomic sequencing involves mapping the genetic makeup of a GBM patient’s own tumor by taking a sample of it after surgery and analyzing it. This mapping process points to certain mutations in the genetic composition of the tumor cells. Those mutations can in turn offer clues as to how to combat the tumor which are specific to your own situation. The science is in its infancy, but it is developing very quickly.

Although the rate at which effective new treatments for many cancers are being developed is accelerating, glioblastoma risks being left behind. There remains a worrying disconnect between scientific advances and those facing the reality of this terrible disease.

Our Brain Bank will campaign and advocate to close that gap. We support this 2025 letter from the Society for Neuro-Oncology on the importance of biomarker testing.

All GBM patients should have an honest conversation with a physician around genomic sequencing.

OBB believes that patients have a right to accurate information about treatments currently available beyond the standard treatment protocol of surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. This information should be shared with transparency and honesty so that patients and their families can ask the right questions, understand their options, and make the right decisions for themselves. Making such information available costs nothing but opens up the possibility of more effective treatment.

OBB believes that the current way information is shared on GBM and treatment options is incomplete and inconsistent. The effect of this is that patients and their families waste precious time trying to piece together the GBM puzzle. This cannot be right.

OBB UK produced a White Paper that sets out this problem in more detail. It provide deliverable solutions for decision makers to make information on GBM available with more honesty and transparency. We will do so in a spirit of co-operation but also urgency on behalf of those for whom time is everything.

In the US, we surveyed GBM patients and care partners about access to genomic testing. This critical step towards more personalized medical treatment is subject to huge inequalities, based on where you live and your insurance. It’s fundamentally unfair and potentially robs people living with GBM of precious time with their loved ones.