Espoo, Finland, 29th of May, 2024 – Euformatics, in partnership with Finland’s BC Platforms and Hungary’s Oncompass Medicine and Genomate Health, has successfully been awarded a contract for the third and final phase of developing clinical reporting of somatic samples for a buyer consortium of seven leading central European hospitals*, represented by the Medical University Graz. This follows on from the announcements in 2022** about the companies forming a partnership to deliver phase 1 and phase 2 of this ‘Instand-NGS4P’ project***.
Instand-NGS4P is a Horizon 2020 funded project that shares our consortium’s vision for improving cancer patients’ diagnostics. This is achieved by developing and providing integrated and standardized workflows for Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and integrating information from cancer gene testing, pharmacogenetics testing and e-medication, to support medical decision making. The program will run, with three phases, until May 2025 with a total pre-commercial procurement budget of approximately EUR 8 million (around USD 8.2 million).
Euformatics, BC Platforms, Oncompass Medicine and Genomate Health have been working on designing and developing the solution. After thorough review of prototypes from various providers for Phase 2, and the applications for Phase 3 to deploy onsite, the partnership has been awarded a Phase 3 contract. The combination of existing IP and expertise in areas such as genomic data management, variant interpretation, NGS data quality control, and precision oncology, was fundamental to the partnership being awarded the contract.
Kurt Zatloukal, Professor of Pathology at the Medical University Graz, said, “This important project to deliver innovative NGS workflows, driven by patient and clinical needs, has come a long way since its start in 2022. The consortium of BC Platforms, Euformatics and Oncompass Medicine was selected from highly competitive applications, which were assessed in a multi-step peer-reviewed process. We’re looking forward to continuing this stimulating collaboration in phase three.”
Tommi Kaasalainen, CEO of Euformatics, said, “The ambition level and European collaboration of Instand-NGS4P are both inspiring and challenging. As we prepare to showcase the modular approach for deploying bioinformatics workflows between multiple vendors collaboration is needed between competitors as well as customer sites. Solid performance in the final phase gives both the customers and vendors a good starting point for procurement of solutions for clinical use.”
Mikaela Bruhammar, interim CEO of BC Platforms, said, “I am delighted that the work of this consortium has been recognized with a contract for phase three in this Horizon 2020 funded program. The Instand-NGS4P project exemplifies the importance of multinational collaboration and combined expertise in improving outcomes for patients..”
Attila Mézes, CEO of Oncompass Medicine, said “We are thrilled to have advanced to the third phase of the groundbreaking ‘Instand-NGS4P’ project alongside our esteemed partners BC Platforms and Euformatics. Our pivotal role in providing precision oncology expertise from both molecular and clinical perspectives, coupled with our molecular tumor board feedback on the prototype, aligns with our commitment to revolutionize cancer diagnostics. This milestone not only highlights our collective progress but also signifies our dedication to delivering tailored therapies based on a comprehensive understanding of each patient’s tumor profile.”
Professor Dr. Istvan Petak, Founder and CEO of Genomate Health, said, “We are thrilled to be part of this initiative, where our expertise in AI-powered precision oncology directly contributes to enhancing patient outcomes across Europe. As we advance into the final phase of the Instand-NGS4P project, it’s rewarding to see the remarkable strides we’ve made. Our collaborative efforts ensure that personalized treatment plans are more accurate and tailored than ever before. By integrating Genomate® with our partners’ expertise, we set a new standard in precision oncology and cancer care.”
The final phase of the project starts now, with completion expected in Q2 2025. The hospital purchasing consortium will test and evaluate the solutions of all phase 3 contractors with the intention of progressing to Public Procurement of Innovative solutions (PPI) after the project.
* The consortium is formed by hospitals from the Medical University of Graz in Austria, University of Florence and University of Milano-Bicocca in Italy, Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands, Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel and St. Anna Children’s Cancer Research Institute in Germany, and the Centre Léon Bérard in France.
** Announcement on 18th of May, 2022: https://www.euformatics.com/news/euformatics-partners-with-bc-platforms-and-oncompass-medicine-to-develop-oncology-ngs-workflows-for-buyer-consortium-of-seven-major-european-hospitals
Announcement 1st of December, 2022: https://www.euformatics.com/news/press-release-euformatics-continues-the-partnership-with-bc-platforms-and-oncompass-medicine-to-deliver-standardised-oncology-ngs-workflows-for-seven-major-european-hospitals
*** The project is co-funded by the European Union Grant Agreement number 874719.
About Instand-NGS4P:
Instand-NGS4P is a 65-month PCP project federating 7 leading medical centers (two are coordinating ERNs) as buyers’ groups with major experience in using different NGS platforms in research and routine diagnostics. The consortium is further strengthened by European patient advocacy groups, a standardization organization and partners participating in the European infrastructures BBMRI-ERIC, ELIXIR as well as several NGS-related EU programs to cover all technical aspects and transversal needs & requirements.
For more information, please visit the website www.instandngs4p.eu
About Euformatics:
Euformatics is a Finnish software company that specializes in high standard bioinformatics tools for genomic data interpretation. Since 2010, Euformatics has been helping medical doctors, molecular genetics and pathology laboratories, and EQA providers to deliver most accurate results for the benefit of patients. Our present core solution is the Genomics Hub, which includes modules for variant calling, annotation, classification, and reporting, NGS data quality management, and NGS-based test validation and verification.
For more information, please visit the website www.euformatics.com
About BC Platforms:
BC Platforms is a global leader in providing a powerful data and technology platform for personalized medicine and drug development, accelerating the translation of insights into clinical practice. Our technology drives the infinite loop between personalized care and research discoveries, leveraging latest science, deep technical expertise, strategic partnerships, and harmonized, diverse data collections. Our high performing genomic data discovery and analytics platform enables flexible data integration, secure analysis and interpretation of molecular and clinical information.
For more information, please visit the website www.bcplatforms.com
About Oncompass Medicine:
Oncompass is the winner of the Future Unicorn Award 2021 of DIGITALEUROPE, the association of technology companies in forty countries in Europe. The company is the global champion of GETINTHERING startup competition 2021 out of competing companies of 109 countries. Oncompass was the first to develop a software as a medical device based on artificial intelligence that proved to improve therapeutic decisions in precision oncology. Oncompass also provides end-to-end services for oncology centers that wish to provide precision oncology to their patients.
For more information, please visit the website www.oncompassmedicine.com
Press relations:
Instand-NGS4P: Kurt Zatloukal, kurt.zatloukal@medunigraz.at
Euformatics: Tommi Kaasalainen, tommi.kaasalainen@euformatics.com
BC Platforms: Mikaela Bruhammar, mikaela.bruhammar@bcplatforms.com
Oncompass Medicine: Attila Mezes, attila.mezes@oncompassmedicine.com
