Saphetor, ICON Partner to Develop Precision Medicine Clinical Trial Strategies

Saphetor SA, is partnering with ICON to develop an innovative approach to support the planning and execution of clinical trials in the precision medicine and rare diseases space. The companies are exploring how Saphetor’s variant interpretation platform VarSome.com can be further leveraged in terms of the epidemiology, prevalence, and location trends of genetic mutations, thereby supporting patient recruitment and overall clinical trial strategy.

ICON provides outsourced services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and government and public health organizations. Saphetor has developed VarSome Insights, a precision medicine service enabling clients to leverage VarSome.com search data as part of an omnichannel approach to executing clinical trial strategies. VarSome.com is a tool relied upon by healthcare professionals (HCPs) and researchers around the world looking for comprehensive information connected to genetic variants of interest.

Saphetor will work with ICON to explore the potential of VarSome Insights including giving VarSome.com users the option to opt-in to have their data shared with relevant third parties managing relevant clinical studies and provide additional information on disease causing variants, including general educational materials for common misdiagnoses and information on actively recruiting clinical trials and studies.

ICON and Saphetor are working towards improving the power and cost-effectiveness of clinical trial planning and execution, making it easier for HCPs to receive the latest information about relevant diseases and to help their patients be made aware of trial and study opportunities.

Travis Caudill, vice president of feasibility and clinical informatics at ICON said: “We’re pleased to be collaborating with Saphetor to explore the potential of Varsome in delivering really significant data that will support the effectiveness of rare disease clinical trials. The more meaningful data that we can use to inform clinical trial strategies, the more meaningful progress we can make. It’s a great example of how different players in the industry can come together and use their combined skills to look at how we can innovate and evolve clinical research for the better.”

Maarten Kempen, chief commercial officer at Saphetor said: “Saphetor is excited to partner with ICON in this collaboration. Both organizations are committed to improving patient lives and recognize the potential to do so by leveraging the data generated by VarSome.com users – the majority of whom are using the platform to help diagnose patients. We have already developed some exciting applications of VarSome Insights together, and we look forward to innovating further together.”