Caris Life Sciences Designates Virginia Cancer Specialists as a Caris Center of Excellence

IRVING, Texas, May 26, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Caris Life Sciences®, a leading biotechnology company focused on fulfilling the promise of precision medicine, today announced the designation of Virginia Cancer Specialists (VCS), a leading oncology practice in Virginia serving thousands of cancer patients each year and member of the US Oncology Network, as a center of excellence site in the Caris Centers of Excellence for Precision Medicine Network™ (Network).

"As the largest community-based practice in the northern Virginia metropolitan region, the physicians at Virginia Cancer Specialists bring real-world perspectives for integrating the delivery of personalized medicine in large volume clinical settings," 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 excited to welcome Virginia Cancer Specialists to the Network and pleased that the Caris Centers of Excellence for Precision Medicine Network now consists of academic centers, health systems and community-based practices to holistically develop standardized tumor profiling guidelines."

As a Network member, Virginia Cancer Specialists will actively participate in the development of standards of care and best practices for integrating molecular profiling in oncology practice, while also striving to increase widespread adoption and patient access to personalized medicine in clinical settings. Virginia Cancer Specialists will also leverage Caris' multiple-technology tumor profiling service, Caris Molecular Intelligence®, to enable the practice of precision medicine by identifying therapy options and clinical trial opportunities based on the unique characteristics of a patient's tumor.

"The multiple technology approach to interrogate a tumor's DNA, RNA and protein expression provided by Caris, equips our physicians with more actionable and up-to-date molecular data to inform therapy selection and enhance clinical trial participation," said Alexander Spira, M.D., Ph.D., FACP, Co-Director of the VCS Research Institute at Virginia Cancer Specialists. "We are excited to join the Caris Network effort and work with other leading institutions to further shape routine use tumor profiling and enhance the delivery of precision medicine for patients."

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 Virginia Cancer Specialists
For the past 40 years, Virginia Cancer Specialists (VCS) has contributed to the campaign against cancer and diseases of the blood. With nine state-of-the-art locations throughout Northern Virginia, VCS is on the cutting-edge of providing patients access to the latest technology, physician collaboration, clinical research, and the most advanced cancer treatments. The dedication of VCS physicians, clinicians and staff to advancing cancer care empowers them to provide top-notch hematology and oncology care and has led to an expansion into service areas such as radiation, genetics, and bone marrow transplantation. The dedicated and highly-skilled physicians and staff at Virginia Cancer Specialists work closely with patients and their families to create personalized treatment plans that provide for physical and emotional health, all in a familiar community setting. To learn more about VCS, visit www.VirginiaCancerSpecialists.com.

SOURCE Caris Life Sciences

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