Royal Philips and the Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center announced yesterday a collaboration that will provide oncologists world-wide with evidence-based cancer therapy recommendations and clinical trials information based on a patient’s genomic profile via Philips’ oncology informatics platform tied into the Precision Oncology Decision Support (PODS) system at MD Anderson.
The PODS system was developed at MD Anderson to aid oncologist in therapeutic decision making for their patients at the point of care based on existing evidence of effective treatment regimens. It provides clinicians with a list of approved therapies and matches the patient to available clinical trials based on the genetic profile of their tumor.
“We developed PODS to enable physicians to better understand and act on genetic variations within each patient’s tumor, making it easier to provide the best treatments possible,” said Funda Meric-Bernstam, M.D., chair of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics at MD Anderson. “Through our collaboration with Philips, we hope to share our clinical experience with physicians around the world and contribute to improving care for patients globally.”
A significant challenge oncologists and pathologists today is trying to keep up to date with new evidence of new targeted and immune-oncology therapies as new uses are found for existing drugs and new drugs gain approval. Combine this with the growing mountain of genomic data and findings related to cancer care and it is easy to see that clinicians can benefit from a system that is both able to stay current, and help them find the right treatment among myriad options based in the unique characteristics of each patient’s disease.
Through the Philips solutions, clinicians receive a unified view of therapies and clinical trials in the context of their patient’s unique tumor, helping them make an evidence-based decision for their patient’s treatment.
“Driven by the latest therapy breakthroughs, a deeper understanding of cancer biology and an increasing number of clinical trials, oncology practices can provide more options than ever for many patients,” said Louis Culot, general manager of Oncology Informatics at Philips. “Broadening our long-standing collaboration with MD Anderson, Precision Oncology Decision Support becomes available to physicians through the Philips oncology informatics solution, providing the latest actionable information that supports their confident clinical decision-making.”
The relationship with a major cancer center like MD Anderson is not unique within Philips. In June 2018, Philips inked a similar deal with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to leverage the Philips IntelliSpace Precision Oncology Platform to provide clinical care guidance from Dana Farber’s Clinical Pathways tool via the EHR.
“There is a limit to what any academic medical center can do in terms of influencing cancer care unless they can broadcast that out,” Culot told Clinical OMICs at that time about the deal with Dana-Farber. “For something like this there is no commercial vehicle and technology for them to do that.”