Two New York City-based organizations — Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Cota — have partnered on an initiative aimed at precision oncology research and treatment.

MSK will give Cota anonymized clinical data. The startup will run the information through its classification system, the Cota Nodal Address, which puts patients in different categories based on their attributes, disease and potential therapy options.

The cancer center can then use the resulting datasets to improve patient care and accelerate research efforts.

In a phone interview, Stuart Goldberg, Cota’s chief scientific officer, said talks between the organizations began about a year ago. But the five-year exclusive partnership officially started this week. Goldberg noted that Cota will likely be accessing MSK’s data in the coming weeks.

He also went into further detail about the CNA. While developing it, Cota asked various providers which elements and details should be part of ICD-10 codes. Their responses helped inform the development of the CNA.

Now, using the system, Cota can much more easily compare apples to apples and accurately characterize patients.

“It enables us to follow a patient very easily,” Goldberg said. “It also allows us to identify variances very quickly.”

Through this approach, Cota can gather data, put it in the CNA, organize it and present it back to physicians and researchers so they can have a more thorough understanding of what works and what doesn’t.

As Paul Sabbatini, deputy physician-in-chief for clinical research at Memorial Sloan Kettering, noted in a statement:

Working with Cota, which has a unique approach to transforming clinical data such as ours, will help us have a more robust understanding of the components that make up a patient’s diagnosis and care pathway. This organized and analyzed data will help our physicians practice more effectively, optimizing the care a patient receives based on a variety of characteristics and ultimately can improve outcomes for all cancer patients as this knowledge is shared.

Cota will be looking at data from MSK’s current patient population, as well as its backlog of patients who have previously been treated. Memorial Sloan Kettering is also making its genomic database accessible to Cota.

Another one of the startup’s goals is to leverage an institution’s financial data to assist in the shift toward value-based care. Although Cota will initially only be utilizing MSK’s patient information, Goldberg said the company expects to eventually move into the financial implications of MSK’s patient therapies as well.

When asked what success in this endeavor looks like down the road, Goldberg pointed to improved patient outcomes.

“This really is a system that will accelerate the ability for Sloan Kettering to understand their own patient populations … so they can more quickly move therapies toward what’s working,” he said.

Photo: MATJAZ SLANIC, Getty Images