City of Hope and Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) Combine To Advance Precision Medicine and Speed of Research

November 30, 2016
Edited For Style and Length

City of Hope, a world-renowned independent research and cancer and diabetes treatment center, and Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), a leading biomedical research institute, announced today that they have formed an alliance to make precision medicine a reality for patients. New alliance will accelerate genomic discoveries into clinical trials, advance standards of care, and improve patient outcomes and quality of life.

This alliance enables both institutes to complement each other in their common areas of research and patient care, with City of Hope providing a significant clinical setting to advance scientific discoveries made by TGen.

TGen is a leader in applying genomic analysis and bioinformatics to cancer drug development. City of Hope is a pioneer in the fields of bone marrow transplantation, hematologic malignancies, and select solid tumors and diabetes. Together, City of Hope and TGen will create a synergy to transform the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cancer and other life-threatening diseases. This alliance will accelerate the speed with which scientists and medical staff convert research discoveries into cures for patients.

“Patients want choices and access to the newest and most advanced care available,” said Robert W. Stone, president and chief executive officer of City of Hope. “City of Hope and TGen share a common vision for improving patient outcomes, and our collaboration will speed cancer cures by rapidly advancing discoveries to define high-risk populations, identifying targets for prevention and treatment, and promoting initiatives that close health equity gaps.”

“This alliance will enable us to fully deploy genomic-enabled medicine within a modern health care system to create a disruptive change in the practice of medicine. Our aim is to not only to navigate this changing field, but lead it,” said Jeffrey M. Trent, Ph.D., president and research director for TGen.

“Precision medicine is the future of cancer care,” said Steven T. Rosen, M.D., provost and chief scientific officer for City of Hope. “Together, City of Hope and TGen will cover the bench-to-bedside continuum. Our complementary strengths will propel us to the forefront of personalized medicine in alignment with our nation’s ‘Moonshot’ initiative.”

Precision medicine is emerging as a primary approach for disease prevention and treatment for complex conditions. It is being explored for conditions such as cancer, diabetes and rare genetic diseases. The ability to better diagnose, treat, cure and prevent diseases depends on: discovering the genetic causes of diseases, understanding why individuals respond to different therapies, and translating this understanding into new diagnostic tests and therapies.

In forming this alliance, TGen and City of Hope will focus on leveraging their respective strengths in patient care and genomics to develop a comprehensive Personalized Hope program to detect disease sooner, and improve patient quality of life and survival. Near term, they will focus on leveraging their respective strengths in immunotherapy and genomics to rapidly gain new insights into immune function and expand opportunities for the rational design of new immune interventions.