Tempus, a leader in artificial intelligence and precision medicine, today announced a new collaboration sponsored by Eli Lilly and Company designed to provide broader access to genomic testing to patients with advanced/metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Leveraging Tempus tests, this collaboration is intended to help physicians understand the benefits of broad-panel genomic sequencing through clinical practice guidelines.

In advanced metastatic NSCLC, 47% of patients harbor an actionable biomarker that cannot fully be detected by single analyte testing.[1] Tempus and Eli Lilly aim to expand access to genomic testing by removing cost as a barrier for patients to receive molecular profiling. 

“This collaboration aims to provide eligible NSCLC patients access to our genomic tests, to help reduce disparities in biomarker testing and assist physicians in making data-driven treatment decisions,” said Mike Yasiejko, Executive Vice President, Oncology at Tempus. “We look forward to working with Lilly in supporting physicians in identifying the optimal therapeutic path for each of their patients.”

Physicians will have the option of using the Tempus xT broad-panel genomic sequencing assay, designed to detect actionable alterations by sequencing tumor samples with matched normal saliva or blood samples, for their NSCLC patients. For patients where tissue is unavailable or is not sufficient to conduct broad-based tissue testing, Tempus’ xF liquid biopsy is available as an alternative. Physicians also will be able to order select immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining. To learn more, visit here. 

“Genomic testing allows oncologists to more accurately select effective treatments for patients,” said Anthony (Nino) Sireci, M.D. vice president, clinical biomarker and diagnostics development, Loxo Oncology at Lilly. “We look forward to supporting these efforts alongside Tempus to increase accessibility to biomarker testing and potentially create better outcomes for patients.”

About Tempus

Tempus is a technology company advancing precision medicine through the practical application of artificial intelligence in healthcare. With one of the world’s largest libraries of clinical and molecular data, and an operating system to make that data accessible and useful, Tempus enables physicians to make near real-time, data-driven decisions to deliver personalized patient care and in parallel facilitates discovery, development and delivery of optimal therapeutics. The goal is for each patient to benefit from the treatment of others who came before by providing physicians with tools that learn as the company gathers more data. For more information, visit tempus.com. 

[1] Hirsch, F., et al. (2017). Lung cancer: current therapies and new targeted treatments. Lancet, 389(10066), 299-311. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)30958-8