IBM Watson Health announced yesterday that it will be partnering with over a dozen top cancer institutes in an effort to use Watson’s cognitive capabilities to help physicians select personalized treatment options faster.
Most patients in the U.S. who are diagnosed with cancer receive surgery, chemotherapy or radiation treatment but sometimes those treatments aren’t effective. Now that genetic sequencing is becoming more affordable and accessible, some patients are benefiting from treatments that target their specific cancer-causing genetic mutations but selecting those treatments is a challenge.
“Determining the right drug combination for an advanced cancer patient is alarmingly difficult, requiring a complex analysis of different sources of Big Data that integrates rapidly emerging clinical trial information with personalized gene sequencing,” Dr. Norman Sharpless, director of the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, said in a statement.
Right now, it takes physicians weeks to understand patients' genetic profiles, translate DNA insights and compile relevant information from medical literature to cater treatment options to each of their patients.
It only takes Watson a few minutes to finish the genetic material and medical literature review process and generate a report detailing the patient’s case and potentially effective drugs based on the patient’s DNA profile. After that, the physicians can review the report and decide whether targeted therapy or standard care would be the best option.
The institutes will be using Watson Genomic Analytics, which is a cloud-based service for evidence gathering and analysis. In the first phase of the program, they will apply Watson to the DNA data of patients with all different types of cancer including lymphoma, melanoma, pancreatic, ovarian, brain, lung, breast and colorectal cancer.
As the institutes use Watson to help physicians, its rationale and insights will continue to improve. More cancer centers are expected to join the program later in the year.
