As president of ROC Homes, Eric Hymowitz delivers quality new-home construction across desirable areas of Houston, from East Downtown to the Rice Military neighborhood. With an aim of delivering quality homes at a competitive price, Eric Hymowitz maintains a family-run operation and has a strong community commitment. One philanthropic focus, reflecting a loss in his family, has been the Pancreatic Cancer Network (PanCAN).
As reported by the nonprofit, in mid-2022, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) greenlit approval for a treatment that focuses on a mutation responsible for cancer growth in dozens of types of tumors. The BRAF V600E mutation is treated by aTafinlar + Mekinist therapy designed with biomarkers (readings of the biology of the actual patient tumor) as a basis. This precision-medicine approach utilizes BRAF and MEK protein inhibitors and has already been approved for conditions such as thyroid cancer and metastatic melanoma.
With FDA approval, this approach may now be prescribed in treating a variety of tumors that present limited treatment options. The common link between these diverse types of cancer is not their location in the body, but the underlying biology of the tumor. Approximately 2.2 percent of pancreatic cancer patients have a BRAF gene alteration, most commonly caused by the V600E mutation. For this reason, PanCAN recommends that every pancreatic cancer patient undergo biomarker testing that accurately identifies the root issues and sets the stage for the deployment of next-generation treatment modalities.
