SAN DIEGO, Dec. 02, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cellworks Group, Inc., a leader in Precision Medicine and a global pioneer of Therapy Response Index (TRI) technology, today announced that results from its iCare 1 clinical study will be featured as a poster presentation (Abstract 3086) at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition held December 1-4, 2018 in San Diego, California. ASH attendees can also visit Cellworks booth #201 in the San Diego Convention Center for details.
The Cellworks iCare 1 prospective study demonstrated 90% accuracy for predicting response to Standard of Care (SOC) treatments in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) patients. Cellworks’ unique genomics-informed computational biology modeling (CBM) technology was used in this prospective study to understand the mechanisms of relapse after chemotherapy treatment and propose new re-induction treatment options for the 32% relapsed patients in this study.
“Relapse is a major challenge in treating patients with MDS and AML due to quickly evolving tumor mutations and drug resistance,” said Shireen Vali, Cellworks Co-founder & CSO. “But if we can quickly predict with high accuracy whether a cancer treatment will produce a response by biosimulating the outcome of a drug therapy on a patient’s genomic tumor profile - we can reduce the patient risks and the payer costs of unsuccessful treatments and ultimately save lives.”
For this prospective study, 120 patients with AML or MDS were recruited to assess the predictive accuracy of Cellworks CBM by comparing computer predictions of treatment response to actual clinical outcomes. Of the 120 patients, 96 patients had full genomic testing profiles and 50 were eligible for evaluation based on length of follow-up. For the 50 patients, 61 treatments were administered. Cellworks CBM maps of the 32% relapsed samples from iCare 1 patients accurately matched the patient's nonresponse of treatment at relapse and identified mechanisms for chemo-resistance in these patients.
Genomic profiling for the study was conducted by conventional cytogenetics, whole exome sequencing, and array CGH. Somatic genomic mutations were input into CBM technology to create disease-specific protein network maps for each patient.
A digital drug library of FDA-approved drugs was created for Cellworks CBM by programming each agent’s mechanism of action as determined from published literature. Digital drug models of the patient’s choice of therapy were tested at varying dosages and predicted efficacy of the drugs were measured as a function of a disease inhibition score, defined as the degree to which disease pathways and phenotypes were returned to a control state.
“This prospective study is an important stepping stone for personalized cancer therapy,” said Yatin Mundkur, CEO of Cellworks. “These results validate the ability of our AI-driven biosimulation platform to accurately predict the best therapy for relapsed AML and MDS patients, while also demonstrating the promise of applying genomics-informed biosimulation predictions more broadly to other cancer indications.”
Cellworks is transforming personalized cancer therapy through AI-driven biosimulation software models that represent biomolecular and physiological pathways using the genomic data of each patient. Cellworks personalized medicine predictions help transform lives through the early adoption of successful therapies, while saving time and cost across the healthcare ecosystem. Cellworks also benefits the biopharma industry through virtual clinical trials, improved target identification, lead validation and the ability to repurpose and rescue drugs.
About Cellworks Group, Inc.
Cellworks Group, Inc. is a world leader in Precision Medicine in the key therapeutic areas of Oncology and Immunology. Cellworks’ unique AI-driven biosimulation platform is a unified representation of biological knowledge, curated from heterogeneous datasets, applied to finding cures. Backed by Sequoia Capital and Artiman Ventures, Cellworks has the world’s strongest trans-disciplinary team of molecular biologists, cellular pathway modelers, and software technologists working towards a common goal – attacking serious diseases to improve the lives of patients. The company is based in San Jose, California and has an R&D facility in Bangalore, India. For more information, visit www.cellworks.life, and follow us on Twitter @cellworkslife.
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Barbara Reichert
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Michele Macpherson, Chief Business Officer
Cellworks Group, Inc.
michele.macpherson@cellworksgroup.com