TEMPUS AND MARY CROWLEY JOIN FORCES TO TAKE ON LUNG CANCER

Tempus is a Chicago-based leading technology company that is ushering precision medicine as a means to advance cancer care. It collects and analyzes molecular and clinical data. It aims to build the world’s largest library of cancer care information and place that database at the fingertips of physicians.

Tempus is constantly expanding its repertoire of tools by which it adds to the ongoing battle against cancer. The company is well positioned to tackle one of the biggest problems that is plaguing the health care industry today, namely a plethora of disorganized and siloed patient information that could provide insight into future patient care.

Tempus is rich with collaborations, as well. It is currently working with nearly all of the nation’s National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers as well as several prestigious academic and health care institutions whose oncologists send their patients to Tempus for sequencing.

Tempus most recently established a collaboration with Mary Crowley Cancer Research with the objective of expanding research options for lung cancer patents. As part of the collaboration, Tempus will be a preferred provider for Mary Crowley Cancer Research to perform molecular sequencing, analysis and provide clinical support for patients diagnosed with lung cancer.

Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers in the United States, affecting both men and women. When detected in time and when it is still localized within the lungs (either Stage I or Stage II), the five-year survival rate is 56 percent. However, less than half of lung cancer cases (~43 percent) are actually diagnosed at these favorable disease stages as signs and symptoms only become apparent after the disease has advanced beyond them.

According to the Director of Clinical Trial Development at Mary Crowley Cancer Research, “Unfortunately, a match is not always found, which leads providers to test for gene alterations specific to clinical trials. This process, although key in personalizing and expanding cancer treatment options, is often lengthy and requires extra tissue.”

James Strauss, MD, the Executive Scientific Director at Mary Crowley, is optimistic about the collaboration, stating that his team views it as a means to be more efficient about incorporating their available studies and finding the best therapeutic solution for lung cancer patients.

Eric Lefkofsky founded Tempus in 2015. The company uses an interactive and analytical machine learning platform that leverages data from biological models, proteomics and single cell genomics. The company organizes unstructured data, particularly focusing on combining clinical and molecular cancer data and makes it available to physicians so that they can make more informed and more personalized cancer care decisions. Lefkofsky’s ultimate goal with Tempus is to enable each patient to benefit from the treatment of those who came before. In other words, his goal is a personalized cancer care approach.