Elekta, MSD Partner to Enhance Kidney Cancer Care

Elekta is partnering with MSD (Merck & Co., Inc.) to develop digital patient monitoring for people with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC), using Elekta’s Kaiku Health solution, a digital platform for patient engagement and reported outcomes monitoring.

The standard of care for frontline advanced RCC has become immuno-oncology (IO)-based combination therapy (IO-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) [for favorable and intermediate-to-poor risk patients] or IO-IO [for intermediate-to-poor risk patients only]). Despite its effectiveness, optimal and timely management of potential side effects is a key consideration for healthcare providers to ensure patients get the most from their prescribed treatment.

Elekta, with support from MSD, will develop a digital module for patients, keeping them connected with their care team, and educating them about their disease, the treatment and possible side effects.

This module includes comprehensive symptom monitoring and patient support, providing patients with tailored and timely symptom monitoring. In addition, the module offers digital education and support materials created specifically for IO-TKI combination therapy in advanced RCC. The module will be validated in 2024 in collaboration with multiple leading cancer clinics in Europe.

Marc Gailhardou, Vice President, Global Oncology Marketing at MSD said, "The investment made by MSD in partnering with Elekta Kaiku demonstrates our commitment to innovation in kidney cancer care and genitourinary cancers. By combining forces, we aim to empower patients and healthcare providers to optimize patients’ treatment journey and enable shared treatment decision and communication.”

Anish Patankar, SVP & Head of Business Line Software at Elekta, added:,“Addressing potential challenges in cancer care involves the implementation of digital patient support. With support of MSD, our shared objective is to improve communication between patients and their care teams. This initiative aims to provide structured support for symptom management and monitoring while also educating patients about their disease and treatment.”