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Helomics partners with Genomics England’s Discovery Forum to drive precision medicine for ovarian cancer

Helomics, a personalised healthcare company whose mission is to improve the standard of care for cancer through innovative precision oncology products and boutique CRO services, and Genomics England announced today that Helomics has become a full Discovery Forum partner. Helomics will utilize the rich de-identified genomics and clinical data set for the 100,000 Genomes Project to further develop its artificial intelligence-based precision oncology platform for ovarian cancer.

The 100,000 Genomes Project is a groundbreaking initiative, sequencing whole genomes of National Health Service patients with rare diseases and their families, as well as patients with common cancers. The aim is to transform healthcare through new diagnoses and personalized treatments. The Precision Medicine Market is set to exceed USD 96 billion by 2024; according to a research report by Global Market Insights, Inc. Helomics continues to be an innovative precision medicine company that will continue to show growth in this robust market in 2019 and beyond.

“We are excited to partner with Genomics England and gain access to the rich, de-identified, genomic and clinical data of the 100,000 Genomes Project. We intend to apply our state-of-the-art machine learning to this dataset to expand the capabilities of our precision oncology platform, which helps oncologists offer individualized treatment options for ovarian cancer patients. We anticipate this to be the first of several projects, leading ultimately to bringing the benefits of Helomics precision oncology to ovarian cancer patients within the NHS,” commented Gerald Vardzel, President and CEO of Helomics Corp.

The promise of precision oncology is therapy tailored to the patient’s own cancer, yet the reality is that while we can identify alterations in the DNA of the patient’s tumor most of these mutations are not actionable with current drugs. The goal of this project is to combine genomic profiling of the patient tumor (from the Genomics England data), with the drug response of the patient’s own tumor, grown in the laboratory (Helomics unique dataset), utilizing the power of machine learning to create a “virtual” model of the tumor. We can then use this model to guide the oncologist in selecting appropriate standard of care drugs to best treat the patient, as well in partnership with pharma companies to develop the next generation of precision therapies.

Dr Mark Collins

VP of Innovation and Strategy at Helomics

We’re delighted to work with Helomics and their precision oncology products to maximize the benefits to patients. As part of the Discovery Forum, Helomics will collaborate with other companies at the forefront of genomics and technology, to ensure that we turn research findings into treatments, diagnostics and benefits for patients as soon as possible.

Joanne Hackett

Chief Commercial Officer of Genomics England

Media contact

[email protected]

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