Labcorp has joined forces with Community Clinical Oncology Research Network (CCORN) to better understand the impact of disparities in precision medicine for people with cancer.
The collaboration will use the information gathered from a patient registry and biobank to help design future cancer clinical trials in diverse populations.
Patient registry is an observational study method used to collect standardised information regarding a group of patients who share a common medical condition or experience.
CCORN is a start-up founded by a team of oncologists with an aim to address the widespread disparities in cancer burden, cancer care and precision medicine.
CCORN founder and chairman Kashyap Patel said: “Diverse populations already suffer from a lack of access to adequate cancer diagnosis and treatment, including reduced screening rates and staging at diagnosis, along with the financial challenges people often face following a diagnosis of cancer.
“Drug development processes have been relatively unsuccessful in reflecting demographic diversity in clinical trials, which further contributes to disparities in care and outcomes for those groups. It’s imperative that we determine how and why disparities occur, and this collaboration with Labcorp will be a major step in this regard.”
Under the collaboration, PREFER patient registry will enrol up to 2,500 patients with advanced solid-tumour cancer at multiple sites across the US, starting from the next month.
The patient registry is said to help reduce the impact of health care disparities and completely realise the power of precision medicine for the patients.
PREFER will leverage OmniSeq INSIGHT to help identify the prevalence of actionable biomarkers and driver mutations that are unique to different ethnicities.
OmniSeq INSIGHT is a complete genomic and immune-profiling, tissue-based test that deploys next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology.
The collaboration will also create a biobank to provide the extended oncology community with access to real-world evidence and identify the source of disparities.
Information from the biobank and patient registry would help improve the design of oncology clinical trials, assist in patient recruitment efforts.
Also, the information is said to help expand genomic profiling testing in diverse populations.
Furthermore, the diversity in trials will provide the oncology community with an in-depth understanding of advancing personalised medicine in cancer care.
Labcorp senior vice president and oncology head Prasanth Reddy said: “Labcorp and CCORN are joining forces to ensure oncology clinical research reaches community oncology practices serving individuals from diverse populations who are living with cancer.
“While progress has been made to improve outcomes in cancer medicine, especially over the past two decades, current standards of care remain woefully inadequate, due in part to a lack of access and diversity in clinical trials, as well as limited access to advanced diagnostic testing.
“Advanced diagnostic testing offered by Labcorp, much like genomic sequencing, is critical to ensure the right drug reaches the right patient at the right time in their cancer journey.”
