NEW YORK – Oncology-focused mobile app developer Outcomes4Me said on Monday that it has expanded a partnership with the National Comprehensive Cancer Network aimed at improving patients' access to guidelines-backed genetic testing for assessing hereditary cancer risk.
Under the latest partnership, the organizations will integrate NCCN's Clinical Practice Guidelines for Genetic/Familial High-Risk Assessment: Breast, Ovarian, and Pancreatic into Outcomes4Me's patient-facing app. This builds on a 2019 collaboration, through which they integrated NCCN's breast cancer guidelines into Outcomes4Me's apps.
According to Boston-based Outcomes4Me, adding NCCN's genetic testing guidelines to its app will allow millions of people to determine whether they should receive inherited cancer risk testing. This, the firm believes, will help address healthcare disparities by improving access to information about cancer risk testing.
The partnership with NCCN comes several weeks after Outcomes4Me announced a collaboration with molecular testing firm Invitae to improve access to genetic testing for breast cancer patients and survivors. Through that collaboration, patients can make genetic counseling appointments and order testing directly through the Outcomes4Me app.
"We hope that by integrating these NCCN guidelines into the Outcomes4Me app, thus making them more accessible to every patient wherever they are, we will not only better democratize life-saving information, but also help address some of the disparities we see in cancer care [which] are extremely unfortunate, as we know that cancer risks are much higher among individuals with inherited cancer predisposing gene mutations," Osama Rahma, Outcomes4Me's cofounder and medical consultant, said in a statement.
Outcomes4Me closed a Series A financing round in April, at which time it announced plans to expand the app's utility to patients with a variety of tumor types beyond breast cancer.