NEW YORK – Cota said on Thursday that it has inked a partnership with MedStar Health to advance cancer research with real-world data.
Within the research collaboration, Boston-based Cota will provide MedStar Health with curated real-world data analytics. Providers and researchers within the Washington, D.C.- and Maryland-based health system — specifically the MedStar Health Cancer Network and the MedStar Georgetown Cancer Institute — will use the deidentified, longitudinal real-world clinical datasets to inform precision oncology research.
According to a Cota spokesperson, MedStar Health will also use the datasets specifically to address disparities in access to oncology care and clinical trials. Other health systems, including University of Chicago Medicine, have likewise incorporated Cota's real-world data into research aimed at addressing disparities. In UChicago's case, researchers are using these data to identify determinants of racial disparities among multiple myeloma patients.
"Collecting and understanding data is becoming increasingly important to how we select cancer treatments for individuals," Louis Weiner, director of the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and the MedStar Georgetown Cancer Institute, said in a statement. "The institute's research collaboration with Cota will help accelerate advances and enhance our goal of providing our patients with tomorrow's cancer treatments, today."