CollabRx teams up with University of Chicago Medical Center

SAN FRANCISCO—Data analytics company CollabRx, Inc. hasannounced that it will be collaborating with the thoracic oncology program atthe University of Chicago Medical Center to combine its content and technologywith the results of genetic sequencing-based tests performed at the Universityof Chicago Medical Center. The collaboration will be led by Ravi Salgia, MD,PhD., a professor of medicine and vice chair of translational research at theUniversity of Chicago. These tests allow physicians to consider the uniquegenetic profile of a tumor while planning cancer treatments.

"We are honored to be working closely with the thoraciconcology program at the University of Chicago Medical Center to build out afull set of capabilities to support a precision oncology approach to cancertreatment planning," Thomas R. Mika, chairman, president and CEO of CollabRx,said in a press release about the partnership. "The goal of our collaborationis nothing less than to improve cancer patient care by unlocking the full potentialof next-generation sequencing of patient tumors."

Per the terms of the agreement, CollabRx will make availablea turnkey medical informatics solution by combining the results of cancermutational panels performed by Salgia and his colleagues with clinicallyactionable and dynamically updated knowledge from CollabRx, which includes theclinical impact of specific mutational profiles and associated therapeuticstrategies such as drugs and clinical trials. The resulting solution can becustomized by highlighting clinical trials at the University of Chicago thatpatients may be eligible for based on the genetic signature of their tumor.

"Our program is committed to identifying optimal treatmentsfor cancer patients using a holistic approach," Salgia commented in astatement. "This commitment includes consideration of drugs and other therapiesthat target genetic abnormalities in tumors. These genetic abnormalities cannow be efficiently identified using cancer mutation panels based onnext-generation sequencing technologies. CollabRx's expert systems addsubstantial value to these panels by infusing interpretation and insight fromrecognized thought leaders who have a deep knowledge of the latest scientificand medical research in molecular oncology and, more importantly, understandhow to apply this knowledge to inform treatment planning at the point of care.We are highly enthusiastic about working with CollabRx to bring its uniquecapabilities to bear in optimizing patient care for those with thoracic cancersat the University of Chicago Medical Center."

The collaboration comes just a little over a month afterCollabRx announced a similar agreement with GeneInsight LLC, in which thepartners agreed to deliver a unique medical informatics solution to support theinterpretation and reporting of genetic variants from sequencing-based tests.

SOURCE: CollabRx press release