A medical oncologist has started a petition to push for a genomic breast cancer test to be subsidised by the federal government.

The gene expression profiling (GEP) test is used to help doctors accurately predict what treatment breast cancer patients will need.

Speaking with 6PR’s Liam Bartlett, Dr Tim Clay said chemotherapy can set patients back thousand of dollars, and the test will prevent patients from undergoing the treatment unnecessarily.

“We know that these tests will help us select better who actually needs chemotherapy and who can avoid it,” he said.

“What it allows us to do is to look beyond standard clinical factors that we have access to, to the individual genetics of a patients tumor.

“We would love to be able to target our therapies more affectively and spare people who don’t need to go through this burden.”

To sign the petition click here.

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(Photo: iStock by Getty Images.)