CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Foundation Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMI) and Sarah Cannon Research Institute (Sarah Cannon) today announced a collaboration focused on advancing personalized medicine utilizing molecular information for patients across Sarah Cannon’s cancer programs in the United States. The organizations will gather results from Foundation Medicine’s full suite of comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) assays to personalize treatment options for patients and to ultimately support improved outcomes.
Sarah Cannon is one of the world’s leading clinical research organizations conducting community-based clinical trials across a global network. Researchers can use Foundation Medicine’s CGP assays, FoundationOne® for use with solid tumors, FoundationOne® Heme for use with hematologic malignancies and FoundationACT™ for use as a liquid biopsy, to identify eligible patients for participation in Sarah Cannon’s clinical studies. Foundation Medicine’s CGP assays aid treating physicians and researchers to more effectively screen and match patients to early and late-phase clinical trials based on their genomic information. Sarah Cannon will also integrate Interactive Cancer Explorer®, Foundation Medicine’s physician facing decision support portal, across its network to facilitate clinico-genomic knowledge among researchers and to enhance patient access to precision therapeutics.
Additionally, Sarah Cannon and Foundation Medicine have entered into a master research program agreement to collaborate on the development of research studies, as well as clinical programs designed to evaluate and establish the most appropriate use of Foundation Medicine’s assays into clinical care pathways.
“Our physicians are at the forefront of clinical research through our work with novel investigative therapies,” said Howard A. “Skip” Burris, M.D., president, clinical operations and chief medical officer, Sarah Cannon. “Clinical trials, particularly those where patients can be molecularly matched to a study, are an integral part of effectively treating many types of cancers and accelerating patient access to novel therapies. We’re excited to collaborate with Foundation Medicine as we continue to enhance access to molecular information, which helps improve clinical care and inform research across our network.”
Sarah Cannon and Foundation Medicine will also work together to develop training and educational programs that support the advancement of personalized medicine, including work with Sarah Cannon’s Nurse Navigator Program, a high-touch, personalized support program that enables nurses to comprehensively manage a patient’s experience with cancer.
“Precision medicine in cancer can be achieved by innovating new ideas that accelerate patient access to novel compounds in development,” said Steven Kafka, president and chief operating officer for Foundation Medicine. “Together with Sarah Cannon, we believe we are in a unique position to eliminate roadblocks to patient access, to integrate genomics knowledge into clinical pathways and to extend that knowledge across the cancer care continuum to accelerate research and drive better outcomes for all patients.”
About Sarah Cannon Research Institute
Sarah Cannon Research Institute is the research arm of HCA’s global cancer institute, Sarah Cannon. Focused on advancing therapies for patients, it is one of the world’s leading clinical research organizations conducting community-based clinical trials throughout the United States and United Kingdom. Sarah Cannon’s network of strategic sites includes more than 275 physicians who engage in research. The organization has led more than 250 first-in-man clinical trials since its inception in 1993, and has been a clinical trial leader in more than two-thirds of approved cancer therapies over the last 10 years. Additionally, Sarah Cannon offers management, regulatory, and other research support services for drug development and industry sponsors as well as strategic investigator sites through its contract research organization (CRO), Sarah Cannon Development Innovations (formerly known as SCRI Development Innovations). For more information, visit sarahcannon.com.
About Foundation Medicine
Foundation Medicine (NASDAQ:FMI) is a molecular information company dedicated to a transformation in cancer care in which treatment is informed by a deep understanding of the genomic changes that contribute to each patient's unique cancer. The company offers a full suite of comprehensive genomic profiling assays to identify the molecular alterations in a patient's cancer and match them with relevant targeted therapies, immunotherapies and clinical trials. Foundation Medicine's molecular information platform aims to improve day-to-day care for patients by serving the needs of clinicians, academic researchers and drug developers to help advance the science of molecular medicine in cancer. For more information, please visit http://www.FoundationMedicine.com or follow Foundation Medicine on Twitter (@FoundationATCG).
Foundation Medicine®, FoundationOne® and FoundationOne® Heme are registered trademarks and FoundationACT™ is a trademark of Foundation Medicine, Inc.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements for Foundation Medicine
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the implementation of the collaboration between Foundation Medicine and Sarah Cannon, the ability of Foundation Medicine’s CGP assays to effectively screen and match Sarah Cannon patients to early and late-phase clinical trials; the ability of Foundation Medicine’s Interactive Cancer Explorer to integrate into physician practice, to enhance the development of ability of clinico-genomic information and to support access for patients to precision medicine in the treatment of cancer; and the development and enhancement of research studies conducted by Sarah Cannon as a result of the collaboration. All such forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include the risks that the collaboration is not implemented as quickly or as broadly as anticipated; Foundation Medicine's CGP assays do not perform as expected; the Interactive Cancer Explorer is not widely adopted or used by physicians at Sarah Cannon; the genomic information identified by Foundation Medicine’s CGP assays does not facilitate access to relevant targeted therapies or clinical trials as readily as expected; and the risks described under the caption “Risk Factors” in Foundation Medicine’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, which is on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as other risks detailed in Foundation Medicine’s subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and Foundation Medicine and Sarah Cannon undertake no duty to update this information unless required by law.
