Tempus and University of Michigan announce pancreatic cancer collaboration
Published in Yahoo! Finance – January 30, 2017
Tempus, a technology company focused on helping doctors personalize cancer care, and the University of Michigan are partnering to help researchers and physicians to identify customized treatment opportunities for pancreatic cancer patients.
As part of the new collaboration, Tempus will provide genomic and transcriptomic sequencing and analysis for pancreatic cancer patients being treated at the University of Michigan. Utilizing bioinformatics and its machine learning platform, Tempus will help physicians analyze these data sets to identify patterns and potentially actionable treatments.
Pancreatic cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States and anticipated to become the second by around 2020. The disease kills more people than breast cancer and has a five-year survival rate of just nine percent.
“Though pancreatic cancer patients face some of the toughest odds, they do not yet have access to a host of targeted therapies with proven effectiveness in the same way that other diseases have, in part because there isn’t enough patient, treatment and outcome data to identify patterns that might lead to actionable treatments,” said Eric Lefkofsky, Co-founder and CEO of Tempus. “At Tempus, we are proud to be leading an effort to make that data available to researchers and physicians on the frontlines of care.”
The University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center is one of 47 Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the U.S. designated by the National Cancer Institute, and has been a leader in pancreatic cancer, from both a clinical and research perspective, for the past several decades.
“The University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center is committed to providing researchers and physicians with the tools and resources they need to battle pancreatic cancer,” said Diane Simeone, Director of the Gastrointestinal Oncology Program. “We are pleased to partner with Tempus, a company that shares our commitment to innovation and collaboration in the pursuit of better treatment options for patients battling this disease.”
Tempus provides molecular sequencing and clinical analytic solutions for top academic centers, hospital systems, associations, and healthcare providers.
