[refurb]

The drugs being tested are all already approved, so safety would not be really a concern.

Not true at all. Two drugs could be very safe on their own, but in combination could cause serious adverse events or even lead to death (combining some drugs with grapefruit juice can be bad). When drugs are approved by the FDA, the obvious combinations are sometimes tested for (or theoretical interactions are called out). New combinations are basically an unknown.

After some time to collect the data, you could fairly easily compare outcomes of patients who undergo this test versus those who do not.

Unless you are running a controlled clinical trial, I'm not sure anyone would trust the data. There is too much variability among patients, that if not controlled for, could seriously skew results. Sure it might indicate a promising lead, but I doubt that's enough for insurance companies to start paying for it.

[vobios]

> Two drugs could be very safe on their own, but in combination could cause serious adverse events

That is true. My assumption was that only single compounds or previously tested combinations are suggested.

> Unless you are running a controlled clinical trial, I'm not sure anyone would trust the data.

I agree. I just meant it would be relatively easy to collect enough preliminary data to have a reasonable idea of how a proper clinical trial would go. It's not like going from an animal model to human trials or from a tiny cohort of late-stage patients to a larger more heterogenous group.

[refurb]

It's not like going from an animal model to human trials or from a tiny cohort of late-stage patients to a larger more heterogenous group.

Fair point. A retrospective analysis would provide some data. The problem is insurance companies have pretty high standards (at least for cancer drug that cost a lot)!