Caris Life Sciences Designates Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute as Caris Center of Excellence

IRVING, Texas, May 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ – Caris Life Sciences®, a leading biotechnology company focused on fulfilling the promise of precision medicine, today announced it has appointed the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit a center of excellence site in the Caris Centers of Excellence for Precision Medicine Network™ (Network).

Karmanos is one of only 41 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the nation and treats approximately 12,000 new cancer patients annually throughout Michigan. Gerold Bepler, M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO of Karmanos, has been appointed Vice Chairman of the Network to help guide the development of standards for tumor profiling and research protocols integrating tumor profiling.

"We are very pleased to welcome Karmanos to the COE Network and Dr. Bepler to the Network leadership team," said Dr. John Marshall, Chairman of the Network, Professor of Medicine and Oncology at Georgetown University School of Medicine, and Chief of Hematology/Oncology at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. "I am delighted that the Caris Centers of Excellence for Precision Medicine Network continues to expand and Network members are actively developing standardized tumor profiling guidelines that will significantly impact clinical care, ensuring cancer patients have access to the highest-quality information to fight their disease."

As a Network member, Karmanos will actively participate in the development of standards-of-care and best practices for integrating and using tumor profiling to increase patient access to personalized medicine in clinical settings. Karmanos will also leverage Caris' multiple-technology tumor profiling service, Caris Molecular Intelligence®, to enable the practice of precision medicine, advance research through clinical trials, help guide therapy decisions and identify clinical trial opportunities based on each patient's unique tumor biology.

"It is a great honor for Karmanos to join the Caris Centers of Excellence for Precision Medicine Network, as this partnership represents an unparalleled opportunity for all cancer patients to benefit from molecular profiling, which has become a crucial part of cancer care," said Dr. Bepler. "More and more oncologists are using advanced tumor profiling technologies to better assist their approach to cancer diagnosis and treatment, especially for rare and aggressive cancers. I am honored to serve as Network vice chairman and contribute to this great work that has tremendous implications for personalizing cancer care worldwide."

Caris Molecular Intelligence, a service that correlates molecular data from a tumor with biomarker and drug associations from the latest clinical and scientific cancer literature, is the key technology platform used across the Network to enable the delivery of precision medicine. This information is used to help inform treatment decisions by identifying therapies that have the potential to be most effective and to rule out those that are less likely to work based on the unique molecular characteristics of an individual patient's cancer. The Caris Molecular Intelligence system uses multiple technology platforms combined with sophisticated bioinformatics to develop clinically actionable reports for more than 70,000 patients to date.

About Caris Life Sciences®
Caris Life Sciences® is a leading biotechnology company focused on fulfilling the promise of precision medicine through quality and innovation. Caris Molecular Intelligence®, the company's healthcare information and comprehensive tumor profiling service with more than 70,000 patients profiled, provides oncologists with the most clinically actionable treatment options available to personalize cancer care today. Using a variety of advanced profiling technologies to assess relevant biological changes in each patient's tumor, Caris Molecular Intelligence connects biomarker data generated from a tumor with biomarker-drug associations supported by evidence in the relevant clinical literature. Since 2009, Caris has tracked clinical and outcome data for certain patients undergoing tumor molecular profiling, for which Caris has observed that patients treated with drugs consistent with their molecular profile show a significant increase in overall survival. The company is developing its Carisome® TOP™ technology, a revolutionary and proprietary blood-based platform for the development of novel therapeutics, drug delivery and drug target identification. The technology is also being developed for diagnosis, prognosis, and theranosis of cancer and other complex diseases. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Caris Life Sciences offers services throughout Europe, the U.S., Australia and other international markets. To learn more, please visit www.CarisLifeSciences.com. 

About Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute
Located in mid-town Detroit, Michigan, the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, a subsidiary of McLaren Health Care, is one of 41 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the United States. Karmanos is among the nation's best cancer centers. Through the commitment of 1,000 staff, including nearly 300 physicians and researchers on faculty at the Wayne State University School of Medicine, and supported by thousands of volunteer and financial donors, Karmanos strives to prevent, detect and eradicate all forms of cancer. Its long-term partnership with the WSU School of Medicine enhances the collaboration of critical research and academics related to cancer care. Gerold Bepler, M.D., Ph.D., is the Institute's president and chief executive officer. For more information call 1-800-KARMANOS or go to www.karmanos.org.   

SOURCE Caris Life Sciences

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