CANCER COMMONS

By tightly coupling clinical research and customized patient care and by bringing real-world data to the front lines of cancer research, we help our patients and their physicians collectively explore the latest and best treatment options far more efficiently than they can as individuals.

Long before COVID-19 changed the face of medical care, Cancer Commons built our processes around the existing fragmented healthcare system. We refer patients to our own Virtual Tumor Boards—panels of scientists and experts practicing at elite cancer centers and academic institutions across the nation—who assess patients’ treatment history, clinical, radiological, and molecular information. We then provide patients with a detailed treatment options report that may include clinical trials, promising off-label treatments, and/or expanded-access or compassionate-use treatment programs.

Cancer Commons’ process is faster and more comprehensive than seeking opinions from individual experts and reduces the amount of time required to assess the best options. Cancer Commons Virtual Tumor Boards meet regularly to review patient cases, either synchronously by video conferencing or asynchronously online. For patient data that are completely assembled, a consensus can be reached—
and a report delivered—within a week.

Contrast this with the usual, time-consuming process of seeking individual second (and third) opinions in person. The patient/caregiver must provide medical records to each individual expert; the expert must review medical records, radiology data, and pathology slides then provide responses; patients may be required to travel to another institution, in another state or even cross-country, in order to obtain that opinion or screening for clinical trials. Having to go through all of these steps significantly delays treatment, especially during the pandemic.

Cancer Commons has built and grown strategic collaborations with organizations and experts at the forefront of their specialties to expand our capacity to generate clinically actionable insights and help advanced cancer patients obtain the best possible outcomes while accelerating knowledge acquisition:

• Eric T. Wong, MD, Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, Co-Director of the Brain Tumor Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and a Neuro-Oncology affiliate member of Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center joined Cancer Commons as the Medical Director for Brain Cancer.

• Under the direction of Dr. Wong, we established the Brain Cancer Commons Collaboration with the Musella Foundation for Brain Cancer Research to reach more patients and provides information on personalized treatment options to patients with advanced brain cancer who have exhausted standard therapies.

• Shaalan Beg, MD, MSCS, Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology and Medical Director of the Clinical Research Office at UT Southwestern Medical Center, Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, became part of Cancer Commons as the Medical Director for Pancreatic Cancer.

• Under the direction of Dr. Beg, we have engaged in formal partnerships with the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and Let’s Win! Pancreatic Cancer in preparation to launch a Pancreatic Cancer Perpetual Trial that will complement traditional clinical trials and tightly integrate clinical research and clinical care.

• Cancer Commons patients who would otherwise not have access to tumor molecular profiling will be able to access this critical tool at no cost to them, via our partnership with TEMPUS— a technology company that has built the world's largest library of clinical and molecular data—or PanCAN’s Know Your Tumor program.

• We are increasing outreach and providing potentially life-extending help to more patients with the most dire diagnoses across all cancer types by expanding our partnership with the American Cancer Society, the largest voluntary health organization in the world.

• Cancer Commons sponsored a dedicated patient and advocate track at the 17th annual Precision Medicine World Conference (PMWC) in Silicon Valley. PMWC is the largest and original annual conference dedicated to precision medicine in the world. It featured 400 speakers and engages 2,500+ attendees, including top global researchers and medical professionals and innovators from across healthcare and biotechnology sectors.

• Cancer Commons developed a new website this year that clearly articulates the value of our services to patients and physicians. In addition to the website, we continue to develop patient content and third-party publications to educate patients and physicians about actionable insights.

Our virtual, distributed approach helps many patients receive advanced treatments close to home and ensures researchers can continue to get the data they need to validate novel treatments. Our team provides navigation services, research of personalized treatment options, and Virtual Tumor Board services to give patients a comprehensive plan that includes best treatment options, access to those treatments, and monitoring over time.

In July 2020, Cancer Commons redesigned our website to clearly articulates the value of our services to patients and physicians. In addition to the website, we have continued to develop patient content and third-party publications to educate patients and physicians about actionable insights.

From the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, especially during the months of shelter-in-place, many people put off seeking medical care (including cancer screenings). By July of 2020, we started to see a dramatic increase in the number of patients turning to us for help.

By the end of the Fiscal Year, we would ultimately see a 166% increase in number of website visitors and a 74.5% increase in number of patients Cancer Commons was able to serve.