Massive Bio Has Been Awarded a Contract by the NCI to Develop an Oncology Based Artificial Intelligence-Enabled Clinical Trial Recruitment Tool

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Massive Bio, Inc., a leader in precision medicine and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled patient-centric clinical trial enrollment, announced today it has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to develop and characterize the Deep Learning Clinical Trial Matching System (DLCTMS). The development of the DLCTMS has the potential to enhance clinical trial enrollment and retention across NCI clinical trial networks and beyond.

Massive Bio co-founder and CEO Selin Kurnaz stated, “We are grateful for this opportunity from the NCI to solve a problem that we have been passionately working towards. We believe all cancer patients deserve equal access to clinical trials and cancer care.” Massive Bio has focused on improving patient enrollment for clinical trials since the company was founded in 2015. The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting challenge of conducting clinical trial enrollment remotely has demonstrated the need for cancer centers of all sizes and complexities to have a digital health technology solution to assist in patient enrollment.

“Ultimately, our goal is to enroll as many patients as possible in potential clinical trials,” says Richard D. Carvajal, MD, associate professor of medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and Director of Experimental Therapeutics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. “I have had the opportunity to familiarize myself with Massive Bio’s Deep Learning Clinical Trial Matching System, and I believe this AI-enabled platform could be a promising solution to advance clinical trial patient identification and matching.” Massive Bio will use the contract to further develop SYNERGY-AI, its artificial intelligence powered DLCTMS, which can be utilized in a wide range of community and academic research institutions over time.

Approximately only 3%-5% of cancer patients participate in clinical trials. Enrollment rates have decreased since the COVID-19 pandemic due to reduced patient mobility and limited healthcare workforce availability. Kurnaz continued, “With our in-depth industry experience, advanced technology targeted towards detailed pre-screening, dedicated provider and patient engagement services and patient-centered approach, we are uniquely equipped to quickly enroll patients and maintain extremely high retention rates. Massive Bio is a young company working relentlessly to continue its unwavering commitment to creating a world without cancer.”

This project has been funded in whole with Federal funds from the National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute, under Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Contract No. 75N91020C00016.

About Massive Bio

Massive Bio’s (https://massivebio.com/) mission is to provide access to clinical trials for every cancer patient regardless of his/her location and/or financial stability. Massive Bio an AI-driven platform connecting cancer patients and their oncologists to bio-pharmaceutical clinical trials yielding profound improvement in access and match rates, leading to faster drug development timelines and creating novel oncology data ecosystem for improved protocol design and real-world insights. Massive Bio controls patient enrollment value chain starting patient identification, following with AI based virtual pre-screening outside the site and resolving last mile issues for clinical trial enrollment. While improving cancer patients lives, Massive Bio serves close to two dozen pharmaceutical companies, contract research organizations (CROs) and providers. Oncology dedicated patient recruitment, site selection, real-world data services and AI based scaled trial prescreening services are provided to its enterprise customers. Massive Bio has been founded in 2015, headquartered in NYC and privately funded by strategic and financial investors.