SOPHiA GENETICS Enters New Collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and AstraZeneca to Address Global Inequalities in Comprehensive Cancer Care
October 19, 2023 – Biotechnology – AstraZeneca, MSK, SOPHiA Genetics, cancer
The three companies will collaborate to improve global access to advanced cancer testing and data, broadening access to cutting-edge science
18 October 2023 — Boston, US and Rolle, Switzerland — SOPHiA GENETICS, a category-defining software company and a global leader in data-driven medicine today announced a collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), a top cancer treatment and research institution, and AstraZeneca to bring high quality, comprehensive cancer testing to a global scale. With this collaboration, the three leading organisations will further their shared goal to advance health equity on a global scale by providing inclusive access to comprehensive cancer testing worldwide.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide. In 2020, 10 million deaths were attributed to cancer, 70% of which occurred in low- and middle-income countries. While there are multifaceted reasons for this disparity, a top contributor is the lack of adequate testing, which can lead to prevention, early detection and advanced treatment. Through the newly announced partnership, SOPHiA GENETICS, MSK and AstraZeneca will create a decentralised global network for cancer testing, including underserved regions where access to testing remains scarce.
The partnership will provide MSK’s proprietary liquid biopsy and solid tumor cancer tests – MSK-ACCESS and MSK-IMPACT – to organisations via the decentralised, technology-agnostic SOPHiA DDM Platform. This offering will be rapidly deployed by SOPHiA GENETICS with support from AstraZeneca’s global footprint. Through SOPHiA GENETICS’ cloud-based platform, which provides highly accurate and reliable data and insights, institutions around the world – and in traditionally under-resourced and underserved areas – will have the power to make data-driven decisions.
“The power of a decentralised network like the SOPHiA DDM Platform is that diverse data inputs are continuously added to the network to fuel and teach our artificial intelligence algorithms, helping to produce stronger data outputs each time,” said Jurgi Camblong PhD, CEO and co-founder, SOPHiA GENETICS. “The diverse data that will be unlocked through the partnership between SOPHiA GENETICS, AstraZeneca and MSK will undoubtedly contribute to the collective intelligence needed on a global scale to revolutionise the future of cancer research and treatment.”
“MSK is excited to collaborate with SOPHiA GENETICS and AstraZeneca to bring our advanced genomic testing to new populations,” said Anaeze Offodile II MD MPH, chief strategy officer, MSK. “We believe that this collaboration will enable patients from around the world to better understand the genomic profile of their cancer. Expanding this to a global population generates a more diverse, underserved populations.”
This collaboration aims to generate an unparalleled and comprehensive dataset sourced from diverse populations to provide invaluable insights and knowledge that could shape the future of global healthcare.
“While cancer continues to be a leading cause of death worldwide, we know that a key barrier for cancer patients and their physicians is a lack of access to high-quality comprehensive genomic testing. Broad access to quality testing can vastly improve cancer diagnosis and physicians’ treatment decisions,” said Kristina Rodnikova, head of Global Oncology Diagnostics, AstraZeneca. “We believe that our collaboration with MSK and SOPHiA GENETICS will provide physicians and patients with the reliable data that they need to better diagnose their disease.”
The first iterations of this programme are expected to be available for healthcare institutions before the end of 2023.
About SOPHiA GENETICS
SOPHiA GENETICS is a software company dedicated to establishing the practice of data-driven medicine as the standard-of-care and for life sciences research. It is the creator of the SOPHiA DDM Platform, a cloud-native platform capable of analysing data and generating insights from complex multimodal data sets and different diagnostic modalities. The SOPHiA DDM Platform and related solutions, products and services are currently used by a broad network of hospital, laboratory and biopharma institutions globally. For more information, visit SOPHiAGENETICS.COM,
