Oxford University and GE Healthcare in cancer collaboration

The two-year collaboration is the first ever to focus on developing a comprehensive disease management program which will focus on improved staging of the disease using both imaging and genomic pathology, targeted therapy selection and efficacy assessment, and overall-treatment monitoring. A major goal will be to create a coherent picture of a patient’s disease and determine the most effective treatment.

The study could act as a model for changing and improving the way a variety of cancers and other diseases are treated. GE Healthcare will contribute expertise in genomic and information technologies. Oxford University will provide clinical data and medical and research expertise.

The project aims to shift the colorectal cancer model from late disease – discovering diseases late when intervention is costly and less effective – to early health – predicting disease based on genetic analysis and selecting treatment customized to the individual. GE Healthcare and Oxford will study technology to aid in four major stages of disease identification and treatment; prediction, screening, diagnosis and treatment.

“By embracing preventative screening methods, patients increase their chances of survival; discovering a disease in its early stages is vital so that intervention is simple and more treatment options are available. Early detection and targeted therapy will result in improved, more effective care for the patient,” said John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford.