Friends of Cancer Research (Friends)

This exciting collaboration began in December 2019 after CRAB was selected to serve as the independent analysis center (IAC) for Step 1 of the ctMoniTR project. This project, sponsored by Friends of Cancer Research (Friends), seeks to determine whether changes in circulating tumor DNA reflect treatment response. As the IAC for the ctMoniTR project, CRAB receives data from pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, and diagnostic partners, coordinates input from collaborators, pools and harmonizes the data, and analyzes the pooled data to meet the project's research objectives.

In Step 1, CRAB worked with 5 datasets from 10 pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies and academic institutions to create a pooled dataset to measure changes in ctDNA in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) treated with immunotherapies and examine whether those changes were associated with clinical outcomes. Collaborators included AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Genentech, Guardant Health, Johns Hopkins University, LexentBio, Merck, the NMD Group LLC, Penn Medicine, Roche Dx, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The results of the Step 1 pilot project showed strong associations between decreases in ctDNA and improved overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and tumor response (Vega et al, JCO Precis Oncol. 2022, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35952319/)

Step 2 was initiated in February 2021 and expanded the research from Step 1 to include datasets from additional cancer types and therapies. Nearly 25 pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies and academic institutions have agreed to submit datasets for Step 2.

Step 2 of the Friends of Cancer Research ctMoniTR project also expanded CRAB's involvement, including development of a gated web portal which allows sponsors to submit large datasets.

CRAB is honored to be a part of this impactful research and looks forward to collaborating with all the partners and producing the results for Step 2.