Philips Genomics Workspace Enables Cancer Sequencing Test at NYU Langone Health
New York Langone Health’s Department of Pathology will leverage Philips Genomics Workspace (formerly part of IntelliSpace Precision Medicine Platform) to integrate into their EMR environment. This will enable the largest cancer sequencing test in the industry, helping to guide more confident treatment decisions and care pathways for patients who have received a cancer diagnosis.
Cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier this month under its 510(k) designation for clinical lab use, the NYU Langone Genome Profiling of Actionable Cancer Targets (PACT) test detects changes in the DNA code of 607 genes linked by past studies to the development of multiple types of cancer. The number of genes cancer types assayed is the largest among academic genomic sequencing tests of its kind.
PACT uses next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology, which can read the sequence of the molecular ‘letters’ making up DNA code within hundreds of genes simultaneously, and covers the most genes of any FDA-cleared NGS test to-date. The technology matches the genetics of each patient’s tumor cells with a growing number of approved therapies targeted to address specific sets of cancer-causing DNA changes.
“The work currently underway at NYU Langone is groundbreaking in the area of genomic sequencing, and we are honored to be teaming on the development efforts, including building an interface between the new test and NYU Langone Health’s electronic medical records system,” said Louis Culot, General Manager of Oncology Informatics at Philips. “Philips Genomics Workspace, hosted on cloud-based Philips HealthSuite, will help facilitate the integration into the EMR so tests can be seamlessly ordered, reviewed, and shared by a patient’s care team.”
“PACT reaffirms the goal behind its design, which was to provide our patients with the best understanding of the genetic changes driving their cancers,” said PACT designer Matija Snuderl, MD, director of Molecular Pathology and Diagnostics in the Department of Pathology at NYU Langone Health. “Knowing the genetics of their tumor can help to determine which therapies will work for a given patient and their eligibility for specific clinical trials. Beyond the genetic changes that are important to the field now, we also wanted PACT to detect the changes anticipated to be important in diagnosis and treatment of cancer over the next five to ten years.”
Philips’ approach to precision medicine is to arm care teams with expert clinical guidance and a holistic view of the patient’s genotypic (the set of genes in the DNA) and phenotypic (observable characteristics influenced by environmental and lifestyle factors) information in order to make decisions efficiently, collaboratively and accurately. Recognizing the growing need for technological advancement in oncology care – from early detection to diagnosis to treatment to survivorship – Philips connects areas such as pathology, genomics, molecular/multi-disciplinary tumor boards, therapy decision making, molecular and imaging phenotyping, so clinicians can have easy access to the insights they need to provide high-quality personalized care.
With Philips Genomics Workspace, oncologists can map a patient’s unique characteristics to a therapy that is best suited for them and provide evidence on why that therapy is preferable. Philips genomics solution combines individual institution genomic knowledge bases and general industry knowledge bases, to help molecular pathologists interpret genomic data and to provide clinicians with ways to enable improved patient care.
