The collaboration, the firms said, will enable the matching of biomarker data with outcomes data for clinical trials and clinical practice to identify new prognostic biomarkers and biomarker-specific treatments. The collaboration will establish a system for the collection of a broad array of tumor-specific biomarker data at the time of the patient's initial cancer diagnosis.

Clarient's expertise in cancer diagnostics combined with Acorn's oncology network and advanced bioinformatics platform, will enable the patient's medical team to determine the most effective treatment regimen for the patient's tumor-specific biomarker profile.

The firms will create standardized testing protocols across the Acorn network of oncology community practices and hospitals in the hope of delivering individualized targeted treatments based on specific genetic markers. A system for collecting tumor specific biomarker data when patients are initially diagnosed with cancer will also be established.

The collaboration, the firms said, will enable the matching of biomarker data with outcomes data for clinical trials and clinical practice to identify new prognostic biomarkers and biomarker-specific treatments. Discovering new biomarkers that could lead to the treatment of cancer on an individualized basis "has the potential to improve mortality rates, enhance patient quality of life, and reduce the cost of burden on cancer treatment to both patients and payers," Ron Andrews, CEO of Clarient, said in a statement.

Clarient, a GE company, combines diagnostic technologies with pathology expertise to assess and characterize cancer. Clarient's principal customers include pathologists, oncologists, hospitals, and biopharmaceutical companies.

Acorn Research, LLC combines a network of committed oncology research sites with centralized site management, a bioinformatics platform that combines the complete electronic medical record (EMR) with patient reported outcomes in support of health outcomes research in oncology, and a Contract Research Organization [CRO] capable of performing full study management into one seamless research operation.

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