NEW YORK – BostonGene and NEC said on Monday that they are collaborating to analyze the molecular profiles and tumor microenvironments of cancer patients enrolled in NEC's clinical trials to improve responses to cancer treatment.
Under the collaboration, BostonGene will perform integrated genomic and transcriptomic next-generation sequencing on the tumors of select cancer patients across different cancer types and disease stages from NEC's clinical trials or NEC affiliated clinical trials. It will also compare patient NGS data against similar patient data from a reference cohort in order to analyze tumor microenvironment activity.
The total analyses will ultimately yield data regarding significant somatic alterations the patient harbors, relevant protein expression, activity of tumor-promoting and -suppressing processes, tumor microenvironment cellular composition, tumor heterogeneity, tumor clonality, hereditary predisposition to certain cancers, history of viral infections that are connected to the cancer, and pharmacogenomics.
"The collaboration between NEC and BostonGene demonstrates the combined commitment to delivering truly breakthrough therapies that identify personalized, effective treatments to dramatically improve patients' chances for survival and quality of life," BostonGene CEO Andrew Feinberg said in a statement.
In 2019, NEC invested $50 million in BostonGene, further stating that the two companies "share a common vision of the immense potential of an AI-driven approach to cancer immunotherapy … to improve the survival rate and quality of life for cancer patients."
NEC is currently collaborating with a number of companies to use its artificial intelligence-powered neoantigen prediction system to develop individualized immunotherapies.