Cerner Collaboration Targets Early Cancer Detection, Clinical Trials

EHR vendor Cerner, in a collaboration with Elligo Health Research and Freenome, will facilitate clinical trials through Cerner’s Learning Health Network (LHN) to further early cancer detection.

"The clinical research Cerner will enable has the potential to advance early cancer detection so patients can seek timely treatment and improve their chances of survival," Christy Dueck, vice president of Cerner Enviza said in a press release. "Data and technology have the power to help clinicians and researchers expand therapeutic knowledge and accelerate their development and delivery, which can improve people's lives around the world."

This new venture will be one of the first cancer screening trials available to the LHN.

Launched in early 2020, Cerner’s LHN comprises more than 85 diverse health systems across the nation that share de-identified, real-world data to help advance clinical research and trials.

Trial participation will assist LHN members in bringing innovative cancer prevention testing to the communities they serve.

Freenome, Cerner, and Elligo will leverage real-world data (RWD) to push the Sanderson Study, a forthcoming IRB-approved clinical trial that will detect multiple types of cancer and use new multiomics technology, developed by Freenome.

Freenome's multiomics platform uses machine learning to detect cancer in its earliest stage.

"Our long-term goal is to advance multi-cancer products into clinical practice to save more lives," said Riley Ennis, chief product officer of Freenome. "This collaboration with Cerner and Elligo will enable us to generate real-world evidence and make our clinical studies available to more people, to save more lives."

Elligo Health Research will collaborate with LHN members to accelerate site activation and enroll a substantial volume of diverse patients.

"Faster clinical studies mean faster speed to market, which means more patients getting the medicine and technologies they need, sooner," said John Potthoff, PhD and CEO of Elligo. "Elligo's platform, together with Cerner's Learning Health Network, has the ability to significantly accelerate startup and engagement with thousands of patients for any study. We're thrilled to be part of this collaborative effort to advance important life-saving and life-changing early cancer detection technology."

Ultimately, the partners intend to accelerate early cancer detection through the clinical trial.

Early cancer detection can increase survival rates, help lower treatment morbidity, and improve quality of life for both patients and caregivers, Cerner stated.

Early diagnosis can reduce the cost of treatment. The national cost savings in the United States from early diagnosis is nearly $26 billion per year.

Advancing early detection can happen in a number of ways.

In April 2022, Epic Systems decided to integrate Guardant Health tests with its EHR to increase early-stage cancer detection. More than 250 million patients with a record in Epic will now have access to cancer screenings through this new partnership.

“This partnership will allow us to provide a best-in-class customer experience for healthcare providers to easily order Guardant Health tests and access results quickly, giving them more time to focus on their patients," Helmy Eltoukhy, Guardant Health co-CEO, said in the press release.