Caris Life Sciences Announces Huntsman Cancer Institute Joins its Precision Oncology Alliance

Through its collaborative network focused on expanding the application of precision medicine in oncology, Caris will support Huntsman Cancer Institute's work to understand cancer from its beginnings and use that knowledge to improve cancer treatments

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Caris Life Sciences

Nov 10, 2020, 06:30 ET

IRVING, Texas, Nov. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Caris Life Sciences®, a leading innovator in molecular science focused on fulfilling the promise of precision medicine, announced today that Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah has joined Caris' Precision Oncology Alliance™ (The Alliance/POA). The Alliance is a collaborative network of leading cancer centers that work together to advance comprehensive cancer profiling and establish standards of care for molecular testing in oncology through research focused on predictive and prognostic markers that improve the clinical outcomes of patients with cancer.

HCI's campus in Salt Lake City spans more than 1 million square feet of contiguous state-of-the-art cancer research and care space. Utilizing a team approach to cancer care, HCI has more than 200 research teams that study all aspects of cancer. More genes for inherited cancers have been discovered at HCI than at any other cancer center in the world. These include genes responsible for hereditary breast, ovarian, colon, head and neck cancers, and melanoma. HCI is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the Mountain West, and serves the largest geographic region of all centers, covering Utah, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Wyoming.

"Huntsman Cancer Institute is a nationally recognized cancer center, known for utilizing coordinated, transdisciplinary innovative research to achieve a shared and common goal – defeating cancer," said Chadi Nabhan, M.D., MBA, FACP, Chairman of the Caris Precision Oncology Alliance. "HCI's focus on research in targeted therapies will amplify the POA's goal to promote broad-based collaboration among our member institutions in precision oncology research to improve outcomes of all patients with cancer."

"Huntsman Cancer Institute is laser focused on advancing understanding of the way cancer behaves, as these insights help us better understand how to prevent or treat this disease," said Dr. Cornelia Ulrich, MS, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at HCI. "Understanding the unique molecular characteristics of tumors is one way we can accelerate these efforts and advance the promise of precision medicine."

The Caris Precision Oncology Alliance includes over 40 cancer centers and academic institutions. These institutions have early access to Caris MAI™ (Molecular Artificial Intelligence) offerings, and establish evidence-based standards for cancer profiling and molecular testing in oncology. By leveraging the comprehensive genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic profiling available through the Caris Molecular Intelligence® platform, Caris seeks to provide this network with the ability to prioritize therapeutic options and determine which clinical trial opportunities may benefit their patients. POA members are also able to integrate with a growing portfolio of biomarker directed trials sponsored by Biopharma. Additionally, as a member of the POA, institutions have access to CODEai, the most comprehensive data solution in the industry with cancer treatment information and clinical outcomes data for over 215,000 patients covering over 1,000,000 data points per patient.

"Collaboration with nationally ranked cancer centers like the Huntsman Cancer Institute furthers new developments in cancer research that ultimately promote the discovery of more precise and better treatments for cancer patients at every member institution," said Brian J. Brille, Vice Chairman of Caris Life Sciences.

Find out more about the Precision Oncology Alliance by visiting the Caris website at www.CarisLifeSciences.com/collaboration.

About Caris Life Sciences
Caris Life Sciences^® is a leading innovator in molecular science focused on fulfilling the promise of precision medicine through quality and innovation. The company's suite of market-leading molecular profiling offerings assesses DNA, RNA and proteins to reveal a molecular blueprint that helps physicians and cancer patients make more precise and personalized treatment decisions. MI Exome^™ whole exome sequencing with 22,000 DNA genes, and MI Transcriptome^™ whole transcriptome sequencing with 22,000 RNA genes along with cancer-related pathogens, bacteria, viruses and fungi analysis run on every patient provides the most comprehensive and clinically relevant DNA and RNA profiling available on the market.

Caris is also advancing precision medicine with Caris MAI^™ (Molecular Artificial Intelligence) that combines its innovative service offerings, Caris Molecular Intelligence® with its proprietary artificial intelligence analytics engine, DEAN^™, to analyze the whole exome, whole transcriptome and complete cancer proteome. This information, coupled with mature clinical outcomes on thousands of patients, provides unmatched molecular solutions for patients, physicians, payers and biopharmaceutical organizations.

Caris Pharmatech is changing the paradigm and streamlines the clinical trial process by assisting biopharma companies with accessing research-ready oncology sites for clinical trials. With over 200 research sites within the Caris Pharmatech Just-In-Time (JIT) Oncology Network, biopharma companies can identify and enroll more patients, faster. Caris Pharmatech Just-In-Time Clinical Trial Solutions focus on rapid site activation and patient enrollment to streamline the drug development process. By implementing Caris' Just-In-Time Trial-Matching System, Caris will automatically match patients to clinical trials and sites can be activated and eligible to enroll patients within one week.

Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Caris Life Sciences has offices in Phoenix, Denver, New York, and Basel, Switzerland. Caris provides services throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia and other international markets. To learn more, please visit www.CarisLifeSciences.com or follow us on Twitter (@CarisLS).

Caris Life Sciences Media Contact:
Lindsey Bailys
GCI Health
[email protected]
212-798-9884

SOURCE Caris Life Sciences