National network gives Markey patients greater access to personalized care
The UK Markey Cancer Center has joined the Oncology Research Information Exchange Network (ORIEN), a unique research partnership among North America’s top cancer centers that recognize collaboration and access to data are the keys to cancer discovery. Membership will allow Markey’s physicians and researchers to improve patient access to personalized medicine – cancer treatments targeted to the patient’s particular cancer mutation. Markey is the latest addition to this 17-member research partnership.
“It takes teamwork to make great progress in cancer treatments,” said Dr. Mark Evers, director of the UK Markey Cancer Center.
“Markey has always subscribed to this idea, utilizing the resources from a variety of experts across UK’s clinical and academic campuses to treat our patients. This new partnership with ORIEN will allow us to collaborate with some of the best cancer centers across the country, exchanging vital information back and forth that will ultimately lead to new, improved treatments becoming available for Kentuckians.”
Personalized cancer treatment
As cancer care becomes more based on genetics versus tumor types, researchers are discovering specific, often-rare mutations that lead to the disease. To develop personalized clinical trials that can target these mutations, ORIEN members pool their resources and contribute to a shared databank.
Much of their work will focus on patients with advanced primary or metastatic disease, those with limited treatment options, and patients who are likely to develop progressive disease.
ORIEN members follow the Total Cancer Care Protocol, a well-organized, collaborative approach to studying patients throughout their lifetime. Total Cancer Care provides a standard system for tracking patient data and follows the patient throughout his or her lifetime.
This gives clinicians and researchers access to a searchable, growing database of medical information from respected peers that can help them match patients to targeted treatments. This database represents one of the world’s largest clinically annotated cancer tissue repositories, comprising data from more than 200,000 participating patients.
“ORIEN will benefit Kentucky patients with cancer by matching them to clinical trials with drugs targeted to the individual molecular profile of their tumor,” said Jill Kolesar, PharmD, director of the Precision Medicine Clinic at the UK Markey Cancer Center.
“Combined with our National Cancer Institute-sponsored clinical trials, patients at Markey will have access to a large menu of precision medicine clinical trials.”
Next steps:
- The Markey Cancer Center is Kentucky’s only NCI-designated cancer center, providing world-class cancer care right here in the Commonwealth. Learn more about Markey.
- Check out our Making the Rounds interview with Dr. Jill Kolesar – professor in the UK College of Pharmacy, co-director of Markey’s Molecular Tumor Board and director of Markey’s Precision Medicine Clinic.
