Oncology health tech firm Flatiron Health will use Massive Bio’s patient database to identify and recruit participants for clinical trials, the Roche Group affiliate announced in an April 7 release.
Under the terms of the partnership, Flatiron can use Massive Bio’s database on a per-study basis to identify patients who live close to clinical trial sites but aren’t participating in a trial yet, the company said in the release. Identified patients will be referred to research sites within Flatiron’s network and matched up with any appropriate clinical trials.
“By pairing our AI-driven platform and concierge services with Flatiron Health’s extensive research infrastructure, we can help physicians and care teams expedite trial enrollment, reduce disparities in access and improve outcomes for more patients,” Arturo Loaiza-Bonilla, M.D., Massive Bio’s co-founder and chief medical officer, said in the release.
The Massive deal is the latest effort by Flatiron to expand its reach. The New York-based tech company signed a pact with NRG Oncology last month to bring Flatiron’s data capture tool to a multicenter trial. NRG Oncology is a research consortium that is part of the National Clinical Trials Network at the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH's) National Cancer Institute.
Massive Bio, meanwhile, has recently doubled down on its commitment to increase access to cancer trials amid the seismic health policy changes of the Trump administration. The company noted in a Feb. 11 release that Massive Bio was originally launched from a small business grant from the NIH, an agency that has been rocked by huge layoff rounds and grant terminations.