U.S. Oncology Research, a network of integrated, community-based oncology practices dedicated to advancing high-quality treatments through clinical trials, has inked a collaboration with Cure Forward, a patient activation company. U.S. Oncology Research and Cure Forward will work together to make personalized medicine more accessible and approachable in the community setting, reinforcing the cooperation that exists between physicians and patients through educational resources and improved clinical trial matching.

U.S. Oncology Research typically offers approximately 225 clinical trials across 160 locations nationwide. Many physicians affiliated with U.S. Oncology Research also are part of the U.S. Oncology Network, which provides care to more than 800,000 patients each year; several of whom are seeking advanced therapies and trials for hard-to-treat diseases.

At Cure Forward, patients can request their genomic results from physician-ordered laboratory tests performed by accredited diagnostics laboratories; results are delivered in digital form to the patient’s online account. Once the data is available, patients can use the Cure Forward platform to connect to relevant information, clinical trials, and other patients with similar characteristics. Through these resources, personalized healthcare becomes more broadly accessible and approachable.

Cure Forward has an entirely new way for patients and clinical trial sites to find one another. The Clinical Trial Exchange gives patients the ability to post certain de-identified elements of their profiles for a defined period. Meanwhile, clinical trial sites use the platform to search for patients with the specific trial criteria. When patients’ posts match open trial searches, the site can extend invitations to those patients to apply to their trials through their online accounts, and if the patient expresses an interest, the site will screen the patient to see if the patient satisfies all of the eligibility criteria for the trial. In this way, the clinical trial comes to the patient, rather than the patient and their doctor hunting laboriously for the right clinical trial.