This report highlights some of the presentations and discussions at the second European Symposium of Biopathology, Paris, France, 13-14 June 2013. The symposium covered a wide range of topics in the space between molecular biology and pathology such as DNA sequencing, cancer genome interpretation, cell-free tumor DNA in plasma, molecular pathology, tissue biomarkers, biomarker discovery, companion diagnostics (CDx), drug-diagnostic co-development and targeted cancer therapy. However, in this short report, the focus will be on CDx and drug-diagnostic co-development in oncology, where a new landscape seems to emerge. As discussed at the symposium, we are slowly moving away from the 'one biomarker: one drug' scenario, which has characterized the first decades of targeted cancer drug development, toward a more integrated approach with multiple biomarkers and drugs. This 'new paradigm' will likely pave the way for the introduction of multiplexing strategies in the clinic using gene expression arrays and next-generation sequencing.
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