ACORN Research (Accelerated Community Oncology Research Network) is beefing up its capabilities to support the development of targeted therapies and companion diagnostics for cancer by teaming up with AdeptBio, a contract procurement organisation for human specimens.
The ‘partnership’ might be better described as a consolidation of services, since the two companies share the same US headquarters address in Memphis, Tennessee as well as the same chief medical officer, Dr Lee Schwartzberg – who is also president and co-founder of ACORN Research.
Leif Honda, chief executive of AdeptBio, said the closer relationship provided an “end-to-end answer” to the changing needs of oncology researchers as biomarkers and companion diagnostics emerged alongside new regulatory requirements in the field.
The partnership means ACORN Research will be able to supply contract research organisation services as needed to facilitate prospective collections of biospecimens from targeted study populations, the companies noted.
The development of new targeted therapies and companion diagnostics relies on the “availability of tissues, and increasingly biofluids, linked to deep clinical data”, Schwartzberg pointed out, adding that banked samples are “less able to meet this need”.
Created by community oncologists to address inefficiencies in clinical research, the ACORN offering includes a network of committed oncology research sites, a bioinformatics platform combining electronic medical records with electronic patient-reported outcomes data, and a contract research organisation focused exclusively on oncology.
