NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Foundation Medicine and the Sarah Cannon Research Institute are collaborating to use genomic profiling as part of clinical trials, the organizations said today.
Under the partnership, researchers can use Foundation Medicine's FoundationOne assay for solid tumors, FoundationOne Heme for hematologic cancers, and FoundationACT for liquid biopsy analysis to identify patients eligible for Sarah Cannon's clinical studies.
Sarah Cannon will also integrate Foundation's decision support portal, called Interactive Cancer Explorer, across its network.
In addition, Sarah Cannon and Foundation Medicine have signed a master research program agreement to collaborate on the development of research studies and clinical programs that are designed to evaluate and establish the most appropriate use of Foundation's assays as part of clinical care.
Finally, the organizations will jointly develop training and educational programs to support the advance of personalized medicine. This will include work with Sarah Cannon's Nurse Navigator Program, which helps nurses to manage a patient's experience with cancer.
"Clinical trials, particularly those where patients can be molecularly matched to a study, are an integral part of effectively treating many types of cancers and accelerating patient access to novel therapies," said Howard Burris, president of clinical operations and chief medical officer of Sarah Cannon, in a statement. "We're excited to collaborate with Foundation Medicine as we continue to enhance access to molecular information, which helps improve clinical care and inform research across our network.”