NEW YORK – Caris Life Sciences said Thursday that it has entered into an exclusive collaboration agreement with the National Cancer Center Japan to utilize its comprehensive molecular profiling platform in the MONSTAR-SCREEN-2 study, which is part of the larger SCRUM-Japan program.
Under the agreement, patients in the study will be tested using Caris' Molecular Intelligence comprehensive tumor profiling approach and will have access to the firm's artificial intelligence-based predictors, which include MI GPSai (Genomic Profiling Similarity), an algorithm for matching a tumor's molecular signature to a specific cancer type, and MI FOLFOXai, which predicts likelihood of response to specific chemotherapy regimens in metastatic colorectal cancer.
Launched in 2015, SCRUM-Japan is one of the world's largest cancer initiatives, involving around 260 Japanese clinical facilities and 17 pharmaceutical companies, and more than 17,000 patients enrolled so far, with 2,000 more signed up annually. Access to Caris' testing will allow participants to be matched to, and able to enroll in, targeted therapy clinical trials.
"This collaboration brings together the expertise, innovation, and reach of Caris in the field of molecular profiling to our patients, and will allow treating physicians to make therapy-based decisions for their patients that ultimately help deliver better outcomes," Takayuki Yoshino, head of the clinical research coordination division and director of gastroenterology and gastrointestinal oncology at the National Cancer Center Hospital East, said in a statement.