SALT LAKE CITY – Taproot Health Inc., has launched a revolutionary National Oncology Master Trial, The Master Registry of Oncology Outcomes Associated to Testing and Treatment (ROOT), to build a national oncology database.
“ROOT is a new class of master protocols known as the Master Observational Trial (MOT) designed to collect regulatory-grade real-world data benefitting all stakeholders in cancer care,” said Dane J. Dickson, MD, Taproot Health’s co-founder and Chief Executive Officer.
The company also announced today that five Cornerstone Centers have agreed to work together to advance this effort. These include:
National Cancer Institute-Designated Cancer Centers:
University of California at San Diego Moores Cancer Center, San Diego, California
The Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson Health, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health Science University, Portland, Oregon
Community Oncology Clinics:
Utah Cancer Specialists, Salt Lake City, Utah
Teton Cancer Institute, Idaho Falls, Idaho
“We have signed memorandums of understanding with these Cornerstone Centers,” Dr. Dickson said. “We all will work together to further build and expand our data collection and sharing efforts to create a sustainable system that will allow researchers access to patient-consented, high-quality data tied to prospectively obtained patient outcomes.”
“These initial Centers herald a quantum leap in the quest to develop personalized treatments for every patient,” he said.
The Cornerstone Centers said the effort was invaluable.
“This endeavor is crucial to advancing the field of precision oncology. The data will provide the large-scale, high-quality evidence to answer complex questions that can be solved in no other way,” said Razelle Kurzrock, MD, Director, Center for Personalized Cancer Therapy at the University of California at San Diego and principal investigator for ROOT.
“Precision Oncology is stunted when critical patient data is not broadly shared. The ROOT MOT will serve as the foundational effort to collect and share the standardized and quality data that is needed to rapidly advance precision oncology,” said Jennifer Johnson, MD, PhD, Precision Medicine Director, Department of Medical Oncology at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia and principal investigator for ROOT.
“To date, no effort has successfully unified academic and community practices to work together in collecting the quantity of data necessary to advance precision oncology, “said Raymond Bergan, MD, of the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Sciences University and principal investigator for ROOT. “We need a national network that will allow the assimilation of data for development of new diagnostic testing and acceleration of patient accrual for clinical trials.”
It is widely understood in the field of oncology that developing personalized treatments for cancer patients requires extensive quality information that either does not exist or else is locked away, inaccessible, in medical clinics.
“No single research institution or oncology stakeholder is able to collect this much regulatory-grade data for a multitude of reasons,” said Rebecca Owens, Taproot Health’s co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). “Taproot Health’s data-as-a-service enterprise is geared to unite all oncology stakeholders in creating a nationwide oncology database comprised of patient-consented, high-quality prospective data that meets rigorous scientific standards.”
The importance of the involvement of community practices cannot be understated, the experts said. More than 80 percent of all cancer patients are seen in community settings, according to Randy Erickson, RN, BSN, MBA, Chief Executive Officer of Utah Cancer Specialists.
“We are excited to be part of a data collection ecosystem where we are treated as Centers,” he said. “We want to be part of a national effort to advance cancer research, and a transparent, shared revenue model allows us to do the research that is crucial to advance oncology. Taproot’s model is uniquely positioned to fulfill this need.”
The participation of oncology practices is essential as Taproot Health powers up efforts to cure cancers of all kinds, its executives emphasized.
“We have the privilege of working with best-in-class institutions,” said Dr. Dickson, “but this is an all-inclusive effort to move us into a new era. We look forward to other clinics, academic centers and researchers joining this initiative.”
About University of California San Diego Moores Cancer Center
Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the San Diego region. UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center brings clinical care together with support services, clinical trials, prevention and outreach programs, and cancer research laboratories — all under one roof.
About The Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson Health
The Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center – Jefferson Health, Thomas Jefferson University, is an NCI-designated cancer center located in Philadelphia. Its mission is to improve the lives of cancer patients and their families through compassion, innovation, and breakthrough discoveries.
About the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute
The OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, known as one of the pioneers in personalized cancer medicine, is an international leader in research and cancer treatment. The institute is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in Oregon. Driven by its mission to end cancer as we know it, the institute is building upon its expertise in targeted treatments to advance the early detection of cancer when the disease is most treatable.
About Utah Cancer Specialists
Utah Cancer Specialists is the largest community-based oncology and hematology treatment practice in Utah, with physicians providing medical oncology, hematology, radiation oncology and imaging services. Utah Cancer Specialists actively participates in clinical research, and is known for translating the most promising laboratory findings into more effective and less traumatic treatments.
About Teton Cancer Institute
Teton Cancer Institute, an Affiliate of Mountain View Hospital, offers the most advanced and innovative cancer care available in its region. The Institute’s team of cancer specialists provides patients superior clinical care, including innovative, individualized cancer treatment plans based on effectiveness, quality-of-life implications, side effects and other considerations. The Institute’s team includes the only pediatric oncologist from Idaho Falls to Boise to Salt Lake City, Utah.
About Taproot Health
Taproot Health is a data-as-a-service enterprise uniting all oncology stakeholders in launching a transparent data marketplace. The marketplace, resulting from the National Oncology Master Trial and clinical network, is powered by a patient and clinic-centric model of shared data and revenue mediated through proprietary methods and technology.
