Nagourney Cancer Institute

Nagourney Cancer Institute At Nagourney Cancer Institute (formerly Rational Therapeutics), we believe that every cancer patient deserves the right treatment the first time, every time.

Your cancer is as unique as your fingerprint. Drugs that work for one patient may not work for another, even if they carry exactly the same diagnosis. We offer testing that measures how your cancer cells will respond to drugs BEFORE you receive them. This testing helps select the most effective and least toxic drug regimen for your cancer. Our founder and medical director, Dr. Robert Nagourney, ha

s been internationally recognized as a pioneer in cancer research and personalized cancer treatment for over 20 years. He has worked 20+ years refining a process that examines the biology of your tumor to identify the most effective, least toxic treatment for YOU. Our patients have been shown to be twice as likely on average to respond to a cancer treatment when chosen in our laboratory compared with standard treatment protocols. With these results, you and your doctors are equipped with personalized information to make the most informed decision to treat YOUR cancer. Truly Personalized Cancer Care.

A question more patients are asking than ever before. Standard protocols are built on what works for most patients. But ...
06/02/2026

A question more patients are asking than ever before.

Standard protocols are built on what works for most patients. But “most patients” isn’t every patient.

Cancer biology varies. Two people with the same diagnosis can have tumors that respond completely differently to the same drug.

When treatment doesn’t respond the way it was expected to, one question matters most - was this the right drug for this specific tumor?

That’s the question we built NCI around. 🔬

Your cells. Your biology. Your result.

"Cancer doesn't grow too much. It dies too little."- Dr. Robert Nagourney 🔬Most people think of cancer as cells multiply...
05/28/2026

"Cancer doesn't grow too much. It dies too little."
- Dr. Robert Nagourney 🔬

Most people think of cancer as cells multiplying out of control. That's part of it. But here's what's equally important to understand:
Every healthy cell has a built-in process called programmed cell death - apoptosis. When a cell becomes damaged or abnormal, this process is supposed to eliminate it. 🧬

Cancer cells develop the ability to evade that process. They persist when they shouldn't. That evasion is a core part of what makes cancer so difficult to treat.

This understanding is the foundation of Dr. Nagourney's work at NCI. When we test your cancer cells in the lab, we're measuring that process directly - identifying which drugs are most active against your specific cancer biology.

Effective treatment, especially in advanced stage cancer starts with understanding the biology. 💡

05/23/2026

NCI survivor: Rick Carroll Story, part 2.

Rick Carroll was told there was nothing left to do.
His oncologist had tried most things. The treatment wasn’t working. He was referred to hospice and told to get his affairs in order.

Rick survived.

Not just because of a miracle or luck, but because someone asked a different question - not what works for most Stage 4 Lung Cancer patients, but what works for Rick’s cancer specifically?

His tumor cells were tested in the lab. The drugs that could actually affect his biology were identified. And a treatment path emerged that the standard protocol had never considered.

For anyone reading this who has just been told the same words Rick heard, that there’s nothing left to do - we want you to know something:

The protocol running out of options is not the same as you running out of options. 💡

- Nagourney Cancer Institute

Before your oncologist picks your treatment, has anyone asked your tumor what it responds to? 🔬That’s exactly the gap we...
05/21/2026

Before your oncologist picks your treatment, has anyone asked your tumor what it responds to? 🔬

That’s exactly the gap we are here to fill because it’s a question most patients never know to ask.

Your tumor sample. Tested against drugs in our lab. Real-time biological response, not a genetic prediction, not a population average. Actual data from your active cancer cells.

That data changes the conversation between you and your oncologist.

If you or anyone you know are facing a cancer diagnosis and treatment is on the table - call us for a consultation before your biopsy.

Same cancer. Same diagnosis. But have you looked closer?One cell responds to treatment - vulnerable, treatable. The othe...
05/20/2026

Same cancer. Same diagnosis. But have you looked closer?

One cell responds to treatment - vulnerable, treatable. The other adapts, resists, and survives it.

This is why two people with the exact same diagnosis can have completely different outcomes. It’s not the diagnosis that determines what happens next, it’s the biology underneath it. 🧫

This is exactly what functional profiling at NCI helps uncover. 🔬



05/15/2026

Rick Carroll was diagnosed with Stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer in May 2005. 🫁

The cancer had spread to his left adrenal gland, and was growing into two golf ball-sized tumors on his pancreas.

After exhausting every treatment, he was sent to palliative care. Told to go home as there was nothing left to do. 💔

Before that, Dr. Nagourney ran a functional profiling test on Rick’s cancer cells. The results showed sensitivity to a drug combination Rick had never received - one that had been around since the early 90s but was rarely used for non-small cell lung cancer in the US.

That finding changed everything. 🔬

Stay tuned for Part 2 of Rick’s Story.

05/13/2026

At the Nagourney Cancer Institute, we do something different.

We take your active cancer cells from your biopsy or surgical sample and expose them to drugs and combinations in our lab. We watch which ones cause your cancer cells to die. And which ones don't.

By the time your treatment begins, that question has already been answered in the laboratory.

This is Functional Profiling. More specifically, it's called the EVA-PCD assay - Ex Vivo Analysis of Programmed Cell Death.

Dr. Nagourney has spent over 30 years refining this approach, publishing over 100 peer-reviewed papers, and applying it to thousands of patients across nearly every cancer type.

While the standard approach asks: what works for most patients with this diagnosis?

We ask: what works for this cancer, in this patient, right now? 🎯

Those are different questions. And they lead to different answers.

05/13/2026

Two approaches. Two completely different starting points. 🔬

Standard cancer care starts with population data - what worked for the average patient with your diagnosis.

Guidelines, recommended regimens, monitor and follow up.
It’s evidence-based. It’s valid. And it’s built for the average.

But here’s the thing, your cancer isn’t average. 🧬
At NCI, we start somewhere different.

We take your active cancer cells and measure how they actually respond to drugs in the lab. Live cell behavior. Drug response profiling.

Functional readouts built around your biology, not a bell curve. One approach asks: what works for most people with this diagnosis? 📊

The other asks: what works for this cancer, in this patient, right now? 🎯

Same disease. Completely different question.
That difference is everything.

At NCI, we take that sample and test your active cancer cells against dozens of drugs and combinations in the lab - iden...
05/09/2026

At NCI, we take that sample and test your active cancer cells against dozens of drugs and combinations in the lab - identifying which ones your cancer is most sensitive to.

From sample to treatment guidance. Typically within 7 days. 🔬

Because before your next treatment begins, you deserve to know which drugs actually work for your cancer - not just which ones work on average. 💡

That’s the difference between guessing and knowing. ✅

Population data helps shape standards. But treatment happens one tumor at a time.Guidelines are built from broad pattern...
05/07/2026

Population data helps shape standards. But treatment happens one tumor at a time.

Guidelines are built from broad patterns across large groups of patients. That matters. But no average can fully capture how an individual tumor behaves. 🧬

What responds in one patient may not respond the same way in another. That’s why more informed treatment decisions require looking beyond the population level and closer at the biology in front of you. 🔬

At NCI, our focus is on supporting treatment decisions with deeper insight into tumor behavior when important questions still remain.

Address

750 E 29th Street
Long Beach, CA
90806

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 5pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 5pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 5pm
Thursday 8:30am - 5pm
Friday 8:30am - 5pm

Telephone

+18005424357

Website

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nagourney-cancer-institute-challenge

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