SAN FRANCISCO, June 18, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CollabRx, Inc. (Nasdaq:CLRX), a data analytics company focused on informing clinical decision making in molecular medicine, today announced a collaboration with the thoracic oncology program at the University of Chicago Medical Center, one of the nation's leading cancer treatment centers with innovative clinical and translational research programs in cancer genetics and therapeutics.
The joint initiative will combine CollabRx content and technology resources with the results of genetic sequencing-based tests conducted at the University of Chicago Medical Center. The tests are designed to enable physicians to consider a tumor's unique genetic profile in cancer treatment planning. The collaboration will be led at the University of Chicago Medical Center by Ravi Salgia, MD, PhD, a professor of medicine and vice chair of translational research at the University of Chicago.
"Our program is committed to identifying optimal treatments for cancer patients using a holistic approach," said Dr. Salgia. "This commitment includes consideration of drugs and other therapies that target genetic abnormalities in tumors. These genetic abnormalities can now be efficiently identified using cancer mutation panels based on next generation sequencing technologies. CollabRx's expert systems add substantial value to these panels by infusing interpretation and insight from recognized thought leaders who have a deep knowledge of the latest scientific and medical research in molecular oncology and, more importantly, understand how to apply this knowledge to inform treatment planning at the point of care. We are highly enthusiastic about working with CollabRx to bring its unique capabilities to bear in optimizing patient care for those with thoracic cancers at the University of Chicago Medical Center."
Under the terms of the collaboration, CollabRx will provide a turnkey medical informatics solution by pairing the results of cancer mutational panels conducted by Dr. Salgia and colleagues at the medical center with clinically actionable and dynamically updated knowledge provided by CollabRx. Such knowledge includes the clinical impact of specific mutational profiles and associated therapeutic strategies such as drugs and clinical trials. It is also supported by CollabRx's large and growing network of over 75 leading experts and clinical practitioners in the U.S. and Europe. The medical informatics solution will be customized, for example, by taking into account the clinical experience of Dr. Salgia and colleagues as well as highlighting clinical trials at the University of Chicago for which patients may be eligible based on their tumor's genetic signature.
"We are honored to be working closely with the thoracic oncology program at the University of Chicago Medical Center to build out a full set of capabilities to support a precision oncology approach to cancer treatment planning," said Thomas R. Mika, CollabRx Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. "The goal of our collaboration is nothing less than to improve cancer patient care by unlocking the full potential of next generation sequencing of patient tumors."
Academic-based cancer treatment and research centers are among the earliest adopters of next-generation technologies to support clinical sequencing of tumors for the purpose of improving cancer treatment planning. The collaboration with the thoracic oncology program at the University of Chicago Medical Center is indicative of CollabRx's intent to provide to these top-tier cancer treatment centers a customized interpretive service paired with clinical genetic sequencing tests.
About CollabRx
CollabRx, Inc. (Nasdaq:CLRX) is a recognized leader in cloud-based expert systems to inform healthcare decision-making. CollabRx uses information technology to aggregate and contextualize the world's knowledge on genomics-based medicine with specific insights from the nation's top cancer experts, starting with the area of greatest need: advanced cancers in patients who have effectively exhausted the standard of care. More information may be obtained at http://www.collabrx.com.
About thoracic oncology at the University of Chicago
The thoracic oncology program at the University of Chicago medical center is known for its innovative clinical trials portfolio including all phases of clinical studies and for its extensive research on the genetic basis of cancer, thoracic imaging, and pharmacogenomics research. More than 200 University of Chicago physicians and scientists perform groundbreaking cancer research of all types and translate their discoveries into personalized medicine to prevent and treat every form of cancer. Cancer care faculty and staff also bring the latest information on prevention and treatment to community physicians.
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