NEW YORK – Tempus announced Tuesday that it has partnered with the Children's Oncology Group to assist the latter in its Pediatric MATCH Screening Trial.
The Chicago-based bioinformatics and molecular laboratory company will provide genomic sequencing via its 648-gene xT assay to determine if a patient is a likely match for the trial. Tempus will offer this service annually for up to 300 eligible patients aged 12 months to 21 years, who have recurrent refractory solid tumors.
The trial studies how well genetic-informed treatment works in pediatric patients with solid tumors, non-Hodgkin lymphomas, or histiocytic disorders that have progressed following at least one line of standard systemic therapy and/or for which no standard treatment shown to prolong survival exists.
The xT platform integrates clinical patient data with molecular data from DNA and RNA solid tumor sequencing. Specifically, it detects somatic single nucleotide variants, insertions, and deletions from DNA sequencing across 648 genes, as well as gene fusions using RNA whole-transcriptome sequencing.
The platform is also in use across several other collaborations, including a precision cancer research project with Intermountain Healthcare and a joint effort with Eli Lilly to effectively bring broad-based genomic sequencing into clinical practice.
"This collaboration will allow more pediatric patients to access genomic sequencing, which is critical for planning their treatment journey and for matching these children, adolescents, and young adults to clinical trials," Kristiyana Kaneva, senior medical director of clinical development at Tempus, said in a statement.