Health IT, BioPharma

Syapse, Pfizer enter deal to develop precision medicine in oncology

The New York-based drugmaker marks the third major biopharma company to partner with the San Francisco-based firm, after Amgen and Roche.

dna, genomics

A company that uses data from various sources for the development of precision medicine programs in oncology has gained its latest pharmaceutical industry partner.

San Francisco-based Syapse said Tuesday that it had signed a collaboration deal with New York-based drugmaker Pfizer that will involve using real-world data from Syapse’s network of community health system providers to understand molecular testing and treatment choices. The partnership marks the company’s third such deal with a major drug company, after it signed similar agreements with Amgen, in May of this year, and Roche, in January 2018.

Pfizer is on the forefront of utilizing real-world data to improve the lives of patients worldwide, and we are pleased to work with them to unlock evidence and insights that can help improve patient care and accelerate the availability of new treatments,” Syapse CEO Ken Tarkoff said in a statement. “To realize the potential of precision medicine, all of the stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem need to work together.”

In addition to drugmakers, Syapse has also racked up deals with other companies and non-profit organizations. In November, it entered a partnership with the National Comprehensive Cancer Network that integrated the NCCN’s Biomarker Compendium data into Syapse’s products in order to help physicians find targeted drugs ad clinical trials while improving their workflow. The non-profit NCCN comprises 27 cancer centers and produces clinical practice guidelines in oncology that doctors use to guide clinical decision making, while insurance companies use them as a reference for reimbursement of drugs used off-label.

Following the Roche deal, the company entered an agreement with Medidata that would use the latter’s cloud and data analytics technology to help design clinical trial eligibility criteria and find community health systems to use as trial sites while helping oncologists identify patients for clinical trials. It also partnered with Seoul National University Hospital and cloud technology company Megazone to implement oncology precision medicine in Korea.

Photo: iLexx, Getty Images

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