Precision cancer therapy firm Perthera is partnering with the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University and the Northwestern Medicine Developmental Therapeutics Institute (NMDTI) to conduct a translational research program aimed at assessing the utility of integrating next-generation sequencing, proteomic, and phospho-proteomic data in oncology developmental therapeutics and clinical practice. Under the alliance, the three organizations plan to develop clinical protocols incorporating Perthera's approaches and methodologies to cancer protocol treatment and to assess their impact on overall disease management and patient outcomes.

Perthera provides molecular diagnostic testing, profiling, and analysis services to create an analysis of a patient's individual cancer. The firm says it pairs proteomics with genomic analysis in the context of patient history to help oncologists identify personalized options for treating individual patients.

Lurie Cancer Center director Leonidas C. Platanias, M.D., Ph.D., said in a statement that the center—which says it is one of only 41 NCI-designated “comprehensive” cancer centers in the U.S.—considers this alliance with Perthera an important component of its focus on applying personalized medicine at both the individual patient and research protocol levels. “The rapid identification of cancer drivers and the attendant continuous expansion of our pipeline of cognate therapies that are directed at these targets is a major focus within our institutes,” added Francis J. Giles, M.D., associate director for translational medicine and developmental therapeutics at the Lurie Cancer Center and director of the NMDTI.

The Lurie Cancer Center and NMDTI aren't the only institutions that have expressed interest in Perthera over the past year: Last June, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network partnered with Perthera to identify relevant pathways and mutations for pancreatic cancer including previously unidentified targets.

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