Press Release

The UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center joins Caris’ extensive network of leading cancer institutions committed to utilizing clinical data to advance patient care and outcomes

IRVING, Texas, January 31, 2023 – Caris Life Sciences^® (Caris), the leading molecular science and technology company actively developing and delivering innovative solutions to revolutionize healthcare, announced today that the UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center has joined the Caris Precision Oncology Alliance™ (POA). The POA is a growing network of leading cancer centers across the globe that collaborate to advance precision oncology and biomarker-driven research. POA members work together to establish and optimize standards of care for molecular testing through innovative research focused on predictive and prognostic markers that improve the clinical outcomes for cancer patients.

The UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute (NCI)- designated comprehensive cancer center in Orange County, Calif. Designated as “comprehensive” in 1994, and renewed in 2021, UCI’s cancer center continues to serve as a vital resource for Orange County and surrounding areas in the fight to alleviate the burden of cancer, integrating world-class research, prevention and advanced diagnostics, treatment and rehabilitation programs to provide the best possible care for patients and their families.

“UCI is pleased to join Caris’ Precision Oncology Alliance and partner with other key academic and clinical institutions similarly dedicated to redefining the future of cancer care through research,” said Richard Van Etten, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. “This partnership further enables our mission to facilitate and promote cancer research, develop new knowledge to shift scientific paradigms and eliminate cancer health disparities, and deliver the highest quality clinical care to cancer patients.”

Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center members, who are drawn from more than 32 departments across seven schools at UCI, are organized into three research programs, providing an interactive and collaborative infrastructure for cancer discovery, clinical investigation including early phase and investigator-initiated trials, and population-based cancer research.

“We are excited to welcome the UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center to the growing Precision Oncology Alliance network,” said Chadi Nabhan, M.D., MBA, FACP, Chairman of the Caris Precision Oncology Alliance. “The clinicians and researchers at UCI are conducting cutting-edge precision oncology research that aligns with the mission and vision of the POA to improve the outcomes of all patients afflicted with cancer.”

“We look forward to the measurable benefits of this collaboration, actively participating in all of the POA working groups and contributing to ongoing precision oncology research to better the lives of cancer patients,” said Warren A. Chow, M.D., Associate Director for Clinical Sciences, Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The Caris Precision Oncology Alliance includes 77 cancer centers and academic institutions. These institutions have early access to the extensive database and artificial intelligence platform within Caris to establish evidence-based standards for cancer profiling and molecular testing in oncology. By leveraging the comprehensive genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic profiling available through Caris molecular profiling, Caris seeks to provide this network with the ability to prioritize therapeutic options and determine which clinical trial opportunities may benefit their patients. POA members are also able to integrate with a growing portfolio of biomarker directed trials sponsored by biopharma. Additionally, as a member of the POA, institutions have access to Caris CODEai™, the most comprehensive data solution in the industry with cancer treatment information and clinical outcomes data for over 350,000 patients covering over 1 million data points per patient.

About Caris Life Sciences
Caris Life Sciences^® (Caris) is the leading molecular science and technology company actively developing and delivering innovative solutions to revolutionize healthcare and improve patient outcomes. Through comprehensive molecular profiling (Whole Exome and Whole Transcriptome Sequencing) and the application of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms, Caris has created the large-scale clinico-genomic database and cognitive computing needed to analyze and unravel the molecular complexity of disease. This information provides an unmatched resource and the ideal path forward to conduct the basic, fundamental research to accelerate discovery for detection, diagnosis, monitoring, therapy selection and drug development to improve the human condition.

With a primary focus on cancer, Caris’ suite of market-leading molecular profiling offerings assesses DNA, RNA and proteins to reveal a molecular blueprint that helps patients, physicians and researchers better detect, diagnose and treat patients. Caris’ latest advancement is a blood-based, circulating nucleic acids sequencing (cNAS) assay that combines comprehensive molecular analysis (Whole Exome and Whole Transcriptome Sequencing from blood) and serial monitoring – making it the most powerful liquid biopsy assay ever developed.

Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Caris has offices in Phoenix, New York, Denver, Tokyo, Japan and Basel, Switzerland. Caris provides services throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia and other international markets. To learn more, please visit CarisLifeSciences.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

About UCI Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
The Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center is at the forefront of discovering new ways to fight cancer. As one of only 53 NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the nation, the center combines leading-edge research, clinical trials and world-class care for patients. In 2020 alone, more than 7,250 new patients benefited from the advanced treatments provided by the center.