Culmination Bio, a recently established Intermountain Health Company, and Cofactor Genomics, a company specializing in predictive diagnostic immunotherapy, recently announced a strategic partnership. The aim of this collaboration is to utilize samples and data from one of the nation’s largest biobanks to drive the advancement of Cofactor Genomics’ OncoPrism™ test across 11 different types of cancer.
The partnership’s goal is to develop biomarkers for cancer that are under investigation in the national PREDAPT clinical trial, which focuses on predicting the efficacy of immunotherapy based on the analysis of pre-treatment tumor biopsies. Initially, the collaboration between the companies will concentrate on studying OncoPrism in head, neck, and lung cancers.
Through this collaboration, Culmination Bio and Cofactor Genomics aim to redefine the future of precision medicine by unraveling the complexities of disease and developing targeted therapies that address patients’ unique molecular profiles. The PREDAPT Precision Medicine Clinical Trial is a significant milestone in advancing personalized healthcare and represents a collaborative effort to bring innovative treatment options to patients worldwide.
In the future, it will expand to encompass nine other approved indications, including triple-negative breast, cervical, colorectal, esophageal, gastric, kidney, liver, and urothelial cancers. Preliminary results for the head and neck cancer biomarker demonstrate that Cofactor’s method is twice as effective as the PD-L1 biomarker in identifying the subset of patients who respond positively to immune checkpoint inhibitors.
The OncoPrism assay by Cofactor is a laboratory-developed test that utilizes an advanced, multidimensional immune biomarker to determine the likelihood of response to immune checkpoint inhibitor monotherapy, such as Keytruda, in cancer patients.
In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of clinical trials conducted for novel cancer drugs. However, it should be noted that only a specific group of patients experience positive outcomes with these advanced immunotherapies, which utilize the patient’s own immune system to combat cancer.
“The goal of this partnership is to innovate and build predictive diagnostics that match the right patients to the right treatments, fulfilling the promise of precision medicine,” said Lincoln Nadauld, MD, PhD, CEO of Culmination Bio, and former Vice President and Chief of Precision Health at Intermountain Health. “With access to over 4.5 million biological samples uniquely tied to decades of clinical outcome data, Culmination Bio is in a unique position to help Cofactor in the development of its novel genomic diagnostic OncoPrism.”
“Closing the precision medicine gap in immunotherapy requires a collaborative effort from all stakeholders involved in a patient’s care plan, including test developers,” said Cofactor Genomics CEO Jarret Glasscock, PhD. “We are committed to seeing innovation move from laboratory to clinic, and are proud to be working with the forward-thinking team at Culmination Bio who have been at the forefront of leveraging their considerable data and sample assets to fuel innovation.”
