Precision medicine company Syapse has launched a collaboration with its one-time Big Pharma benefactor Amgen, with the goal of mining real-world evidence for insights into cancer drug development.
Together, Amgen and Syapse will develop observational research analytics aimed at assessing outcomes in areas of unmet need—starting by identifying existing patients within Syapse’s health network that may be eligible for clinical trials, and then bringing those studies to nearby sites.
In addition, Amgen will be able to tap into Syapse’s collection of real-world data, which it may use to support future regulatory filings for a selection of cancer drug candidates. The two companies will also work to develop new evidence standards in the field.
"As cancer remains one of the leading causes of death around the world, emerging software and data analytic tools are creating exciting opportunities to more rapidly develop and deliver targeted treatment options to patients," Amgen’s senior vice president of strategy, commercialization and innovation, Mike Nohaile, said in a statement.
RELATED: Amgen, Merck, Roche get in on Syapse’s $30M round
Amgen, through its venture fund, previously participated in Syapse’s $30 million series D round in November 2017—alongside Medidata Solutions and the corporate financing arms of Merck and Roche. The San Francisco-based company’s previous backers include Ascension Ventures, GE Ventures and Intermountain Healthcare Innovation Fund.
Syapse’s oncology software platform is designed to help healthcare providers offer precision medicine consistently, including through clinical trials, and supplies them with real-world information about treatments and outcomes through a data-sharing network.
"Through this collaboration and the strategic relationships we've built with community health systems globally, we aim to develop evidence of clinical utility that can be used to bring molecularly targeted treatments to market more quickly and ensure more diverse groups of patients can access them," said Syapse CEO Ken Tarkoff.
RELATED: Concerto HealthAI signs on with Pfizer to apply real-world data to precision cancer medicine
Elsewhere, Concerto HealthAI has inked two Big Pharma collaborations in the past two months, focused on using real-world data to help design more efficient oncology clinical trials for Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb, including synthetic control arm studies and measurements of economic outcomes.