U.S. doctors will be using speed dating as an outline in order to test new cancer drugs at a more rapid and efficient pace.

This bold new way of testing drugs started on Monday with medical professionals matching up multiple experimental drugs to patients according to each test subject's unique tumor gene profile.

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The study is called Lung-MAP and is for advanced cases of hard-to-treat forms of lung cancer. Experts also plan to implement similar studies in areas of breast and colon cancer.

The experiment, which is the first of its kind, brings together five drug companies, the US government, private foundations and advocacy groups and has already been given the go-ahead by the federal Food and Drug Administration which has agreed to consider approving medication based on the study's results.

The overarching goal of the study is to speed up the process for new drugs to reach the market and give terminally ill patients more opportunities of discovering a medication which will help.

In recent years, cancer medicines have focused more on targeting specific gene mutations carried by smaller groups of people. However, as researchers have to screen hundreds of patients in order to pinpoint the correct mutation, drug developments tend to be slow, inefficient, and costly.

In this new study, subjects will be screened for mutations in more than 200 cancer-related genes, rather than a single mutation. They will then be assigned to one of five groups according to the biomarkers shown by their individual tumors.

Each of the five groups will test a particular medicine and, according to how the study progresses, can also have drugs added or subtracted from their medication regimen.

The study will cost around $150 million. $25 million will be covered by the National Cancer Institute with the rest being funded by foundations, charities, and other public and private partnerships.

TagsLung-MAP, Lung cancer drugs, cancer drug tests, Lung Cancer