NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Caris Life Sciences today announced the establishment of the Caris Centers of Excellence for Precision Medicine Network. It also announced the appointment of John Marshall, chief of hematology and oncology at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, as chairman of the network.
The firm said in a statement that the network of cancer centers will work collaboratively to advance the delivery of tumor profiling and establish standards of care for molecular profiling in oncology. Network members other than Georgetown Lombardi were not disclosed.
Members will help develop guidelines and standards for tumor profiling; draft research protocols using tumor profiling to guide therapy decisions; and create a collaborative forum for sharing best practices, implementation strategies, and case evaluations.
"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," Caris CEO David D. Halbert said in a statement.
The network will also provide a platform for scientists to access the Caris Life Sciences database of more than 68,000 patient profiles, including patient outcome data from over 2,400 patients that have been tracked over a five-year period.
The network gives Caris the opportunity to share its tumor profiling service, Caris Molecular Intelligence, with the oncology community. The service can help with the practice of precision medicine, guiding therapy decisions and identifying clinical trial opportunities based on each patient's unique cancer biology, the firm said.
In September 2014, Caris announced a partnership with IBM to improve its molecular profiling capabilities.
Financial details of the arrangement were not disclosed.