OneOncology and Genentech Partnership Aims to Personalize Community Cancer Care

OneOncology and Genentech today announced a partnership that will facilitate increased personalized cancer care at community oncology centers nationwide. The multi-year collaboration will include clinical trials, scientific research, and real-world data studies with a goal of enhancing clinical assessment of comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP), increasing access to clinical trials, and broadening the range of therapeutic options for patients at community oncology practices.

Assessing tumors for potential genomic alterations through CGP can be a game-changer for cancer patients, allowing physicians to determine which treatments will be effective for their specific disease. But in community oncology settings, its use is still limited. The OneOncology-Genentech collaboration seeks to both contribute to research in that area and make the most cutting-edge technology more available to patients at community practices.

“This partnership is an important advancement to bring personalized cancer care to patients at practices across the OneOncology platform,” Lee Schwartzberg, MD, chief medical officer at OneOncology and medical director at West Cancer Center, said in a statement. “By combining Genentech’s leadership in both scientific research and clinical development of personalized oncology medicines with OneOncology’s commitment to expanding access to world-class research, we are changing the face of community oncology.”

The pair also announced the first clinical trial available through OneOncology’s community oncology research network, OneR, which was announced in October. Genentech’s Targeting Actionable Mutation Study in Cancer (MyTACTIC), is a phase 2, multi-center, non-randomized, open-label basket trial that aims to assess the safety and effectiveness of targeted therapies in patients with advanced unresectable or metastatic solid tumors with biomarkers known to be predictive of response to treatment. OneR and other community oncology centers in the U.S. will participate in the trial.

“We are very excited about the collaboration between Genentech and OneR which will enhance cancer research and cancer care for patients across the country,” Axel Grothey, MD, medical director of OneR and director of GI cancer research at West Cancer Center, said in a statement. “One of OneOncology’s key strengths is the ability to offer comprehensive molecular profiling to patients with advanced stage cancers. MyTACTIC realizes the promise of personalized cancer therapy by providing access to targeted treatment approaches to patients in a community oncology setting, where the vast majority of cancer patients in the United States are receiving care, while also advancing scientific discovery.”

As part of the collaboration, a joint committee will also design studies on personalized health care and its effects on both patient outcomes and health care system and societal outcomes. Both interventional and non-interventional studies will aim to build real-world evidence on the effects of integrating CGP into routine practice. The collaboration will also look for new methods of patient identification and just-in-time clinical research site start-up.

Increasing participation of community oncology practices will also serve to diversify patient populations in clinical trials, a goal that has been proven necessary in cancer research. Notably, an ongoing collaborative effort by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) also highlights the racial disparities in clinical trial availability and participation.

"We are excited to collaborate with OneOncology to bring state-of-the-art cancer care to community oncology practices, where the diverse patient population creates a greater opportunity to advance inclusive research," Jamie Freedman, MD, PhD, head of US Medical Affairs at Genentech, said in a release. "The pandemic dramatically highlights the need to rethink how health care is delivered, and our goal is to enable a deeper understanding of each individual patient's journey and to deliver the highest quality of research and evidence-based care."