Patients suffering from any confirmed, advanced or metastatic cancers have limited treatment options and few ways to find them. The PrOSPeCT project – Precision Oncology Screening Platform Enabling Clinical Trials – promises to make connecting patients with treatments easier and discover new cancer drugs faster, by leveraging the power of the human genome. Funded in part through the Department of Health’s Modern Manufacturing Initiative and led by not-for-profit genomics company OMICO, NCI is one of the foundational partners helping to deliver significant opportunities in cancer treatment alongside Roche Australia and the Children’s Cancer Institute of Australia.
PrOSPeCT is a game-changing opportunity to provide therapies to cancer patients and drive drug development. Through expanded access to clinical trials, more patients can receive lifesaving care. By leveraging the power of genomic sequencing alongside clinical and long-term observational data, Australian patients can receive more personalised medicine. Critical to delivering this service is NCI’s critical data infrastructure accompanied by adaptive and high performance workflows. NCI offers a sustainable and cyber secured solution combining data storage, computing performance, expert stewardship and data sovereignty protection.
With around one petabyte of genomic data estimated to be collected through the PrOSPeCT project, NCI’s ability for largescale data storage and data analysis makes the ensuing research and commercial drug development steps possible. Patient data will remain safely stored on site, with users accessing it in a secure, controlled environment. The data would not need to leave the facility, but controlled access could be provided for clinical trials and drug development.
Dr Warren Kaplan, NCI Science Lead (Genomics and Biomedical Data), says, ‘PrOSPeCT is a tremendous step forward for cancer treatment. Around 23,000 Australians with advanced or incurable cancers will receive free genomic profiling, providing new hope for finding treatment paths – all at no cost to the patient. Additionally, PrOSPeCT will significantly accelerate cancer drug development and better unite research institutes, industry partners and government bodies.’
NCI’s contributions to this project support improved medicine for cancer patients and further develop Australia’s ability to treat other genetic diseases too. Advances in data management and controlled access protocols will also be critical steps in handling sensitive data in the future.
