Caris Life Sciences®, a leading biosciences company focused on fulfilling the promise of precision medicine, today announced the establishment of the Caris Centers of Excellence for Precision Medicine Network™ (Network), and appointed John L. Marshall, M.D., as Chairman of the Network. Marshall is professor of medicine and oncology at Georgetown University School of Medicine, and chief of hematology/oncology at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center/MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.
The Network will consist of leading cancer centers that have demonstrated a commitment to precision medicine and will work collaboratively to advance the delivery of tumor profiling and establish standards of care for molecular profiling in oncology. As Chairman of the Network, Dr. Marshall will lead the development of guidelines and standards for tumor profiling, draft research protocols using tumor profiling to help guide therapy decisions, and establish a collaborative forum for sharing best-practices, profiling implementation strategies and case evaluations for Network members.
"The establishment of this Network is the first step towards creating tumor profiling standards and guidelines that would collectively help inform best-practices for the cancer community," said Dr. Marshall, who also directs the Otto J. Ruesch Center for the Cure of Gastrointestinal Cancers at Georgetown Lombardi. "I am excited to be working with Caris, partnering with other physician leaders and data mining one of the largest comprehensive tumor profiling databases to optimize the use of personalized cancer care to support better treatment decision making for patients."
The Network will foster collaboration and research to help establish profiling guidelines and standards, promote innovative patient outcome tracking mechanisms, as well as peer-to-peer forums for molecular information sharing, such as virtual molecular tumor boards and advisory meetings. In addition, the Network will provide a platform to promote research initiatives utilizing tumor profiling and data mining of the Caris Life Sciences robust database of more than 68,000 patient profiles, including outcomes data from over 2,400 patients that have been tracked over a 5-year period pursuant to an approved research protocol, and all in accordance with applicable privacy law. Furthermore, the Network will leverage Caris' multiple-technology platform comprehensive tumor profiling service, Caris Molecular Intelligence™, to educate the oncology community on the practice of precision medicine, to help guide therapy decisions and identify clinical trial opportunities based on each patient's unique cancer biology.
"We are in the midst of a precision medicine revolution where the underlying biology of a patient's tumor can be recognized through tumor profiling, enabling the physician to make more informed decisions to improve patient care," said David D. Halbert, Chairman and CEO of Caris Life Sciences. "As we enter this new era of big data in molecular science, guidelines and standards are required to responsibly harness the promise of precision medicine and relieve as much suffering as possible for cancer patients."
In addition to being recognized as one of the 41 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the U.S., Georgetown Lombardi has demonstrated a commitment to precision medicine through its adoption, integration and utilization of tumor profiling. Georgetown Lombardi will lead and actively participate in the development of tumor profiling guidelines and standards, contribute to data sharing initiatives, and support a collaborative peer-to-peer forum for molecular information sharing across the Network.
"Caris established this initiative over the course of many months in collaboration with leading academic and community thought leaders. We are excited to be working closely with Dr. John Marshall and Georgetown Lombardi to advance the delivery of tumor profiling through focused guidelines and enhanced clinical trial design," said George Poste, DVM, Ph.D., Vice Chairman, Caris Life Sciences. "We believe the vision and collaborative nature of the Network will lead to industry-defining standards that further enable precision medicine through tumor profiling."
In recent years, tumor profiling has become a valuable tool for oncologists when making treatment decisions for patients with difficult-to-treat and/or rare and aggressive cancers. Decoding molecular data from a tumor and combining that information with biomarker-to-drug associations from clinical and scientific cancer literature can provide personalized information to aid a physician in making difficult therapy decisions.
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