NRG Oncology

Portal Access, an oncology-focused medical device startup, closed a $7 million Series A financing round. The company said that more than 80% of the round was led by U.S. physician investors, including oncologists, interventional radiologists, cardiologists and vascular surgeons. Additional investors include a partnership from an unnamed U.S.-based venture capital fund. WHAT IT DOES The company manufactures Flexi-Port SLF-TANL, a subcutaneous port developed to streamline vascular access for oncology patients. The company will use the funds to support a 510(k) submission to the FDA for Flexi-Port SLF-TANL, which the company says is expected in July 2025, with a U.S. market launch scheduled for 2026. In a statement, Portal said the Flexi-Port SLF-TANL device may help minimize treatment delays, procedural risks and total healthcare costs. "Closing this funding round represents an important milestone as we work toward regulatory approval," Michael Tal, founder and CEO of PorTal Access, said in a statement. "Flexi-Port SLF-TANL is engineered with a focus on simplicity, stability and scalability, likely to support more efficient workflows in oncology access settings. It's a solution for both clinicians and patients and created with the most optimal patient outcome and experience in mind." MARKET SNAPSHOT Other companies in the oncology space include Atropos Health, which in April announced a strategic partnership with Ontada, a McKesson business involved in community oncology. Ontada is connected to The US Oncology Network, which delivers real-time data, insights and research on how cancer is treated in a community. Also in April, ConcertAI announced a multiyear agreement with pharmaceutical and biotechnology giant Bayer to use ConcertAI's Translational360 and AI SaaS offerings. The offerings employ AI and machine learning insights to expedite clinical development in precision oncology. The agreement aims to use ConcertAI's Translational360 offering, an integrated, research-level, longitudinal clinical molecular database that harnesses the CancerLinQ network of anonymized cancer patient data from more than 9 million records across all 50 states. In March, Flatiron Health collaborated with NRG Oncology, a clinical research consortium within the National Cancer Institute's National Clinical Trials Network, which has more than 1,300 research sites worldwide, to deploy Flatiron Clinical Pipe in a multicenter NRG clinical trial. Flatiron Clinical Pipe is an electronic health record (EHR) to electronic data capture (EDC) connector aimed at enhancing efficiency and reducing the time and effort required for clinical study data entry. The collaboration aimed to broaden the use cases of Flatiron Clinical Pipe to include NCTN-sponsored studies by applying Flatiron's EHR-to-EDC technology to reduce the burden on NRG clinical trial site teams, ease data management and speed up study timelines.

Patients identified from Massive Bio\'s database will be referred to research sites within Flatiron Health’s network and matched up with any appropriate clinical trials.\n Oncology health tech firm Flatiron Health will use Massive Bio’s patient database to identify and recruit participants for clinical trials, the Roche Group affiliate announced in an April 7 release.Under the terms of the partnership, Flatiron can use Massive Bio’s database on a per-study basis to identify patients who live close to clinical trial sites but aren’t participating in a trial yet, the company said in the release. Identified patients will be referred to research sites within Flatiron’s network and matched up with any appropriate clinical trials.“By pairing our AI-driven platform and concierge services with Flatiron Health’s extensive research infrastructure, we can help physicians and care teams expedite trial enrollment, reduce disparities in access and improve outcomes for more patients,” Arturo Loaiza-Bonilla, M.D., Massive Bio’s co-founder and chief medical officer, said in the release. The Massive deal is the latest effort by Flatiron to expand its reach. The New York-based tech company signed a pact with NRG Oncology last month to bring Flatiron’s data capture tool to a multicenter trial. NRG Oncology is a research consortium that is part of the National Clinical Trials Network at the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH\'s) National Cancer Institute.Massive Bio, meanwhile, has recently doubled down on its commitment to increase access to cancer trials amid the seismic health policy changes of the Trump administration. The company noted in a Feb. 11 release that Massive Bio was originally launched from a small business grant from the NIH, an agency that has been rocked by huge layoff rounds and grant terminations.

Oncology-focused digital health company Flatiron Health announced it entered into a strategic partnership with Massive Bio, a company that helps cancer patients find and enroll in clinical trials. Flatiron Health is an oncology-focused health technology company that offers a platform aimed at optimizing the clinical trial process, including selecting trial sites and identifying patients who are eligible for trials. The company also provides electronic health record services and clinical decision support tools to providers. Massive Bio uses AI to identify cancer patients eligible for clinical trials and connect them and their doctors to applicable trials. Flatiron will use Massive Bio’s database on a per-study basis to find patients who are not enrolled in clinical trials but live close to a trial site. Those patients will then be directed to one of Flatiron’s research sites, where they can be brought on as new patients and possibly enrolled in a clinical trial utilizing Flatiron’s proprietary technology and consolidated patient identification services. "Flatiron Health is excited to join forces with Massive Bio, combining expertise and resources to advance personalized treatment options for cancer patients," Michael Bierl, vice president of clinical research partnerships and general manager Europe at Flatiron Health, said in a statement. "By leveraging Massive Bio’s robust network and database, we can continue to utilize our cutting-edge tools to empower sites to progress research, enhance workflows and efficiencies, accelerate clinical trace pace while ensuring diverse patient populations have access to life-changing treatments that might otherwise be out of reach." Arturo Loaiza-Bonilla, cofounder and chief medical officer at Massive Bio, said the company's mission is to make access to clinical trials patient-centric and guarantee the right patient is matched to the right trial at the right time, regardless of where they live. "By pairing our AI-driven platform and concierge services with Flatiron Health’s extensive research infrastructure, we can help physicians and care teams expedite trial enrollment, reduce disparities in access and improve outcomes for more patients," Loaiza-Bonilla said in a statement. THE LARGER TREND In March, the University of Colorado Cancer Center (CU Cancer Center) and Flatiron Health joined forces to make clinical trials more productive by lowering the administrative burden for researchers. The partnership brought Flatiron Clinical Pipe to the CU Cancer Center and UCHealth, which allowed clinical trial data to move directly from electronic health records to electronic data capture systems. The technology also transfers information directly from the EHR to trial databases. Flatiron Clinical Pipe is an electronic health record to electronic data capture connector that captures and transfers trial data. That same month, Flatiron collaborated with NRG Oncology, a clinical research consortium in the National Cancer Institute's National Clinical Trials Network, to use Flatiron Clinical Pipe in a multicenter NRG clinical trial. In February, Flatiron partnered with Exact Sciences to increase clinical evidence generation for Exact Sciences’ molecular residual disease test Oncodetect. The alliance utilizes Flatiron’s clinical research platform to evaluate a wide range of solid tumor types. The aim was to gather clinical evidence in a real-world setting and disparate patient populations by using community care settings that are generally underrepresented in clinical trials. In January, DeepScribe partnered with Flatiron to bring DeepScribe's AI documentation to clinicians who use Flatiron's OncoEMR, a cloud-based electronic medical record platform. The alliance made DeepScribe the first ambient AI solution partner for Flatiron Health. Last year, Flatiron collaborated with the Association of Cancer Care Centers (ACCC) to promote access to clinical trials in a community setting, boost clinical study efficiency and increase the collection of study-related data. In 2022, Massive Bio secured $9 million in financing. Revo Capital and Kenan Turnacioğlu led the round, with participation from DEG. The company used the funds to grow its operations globally, market itself and launch new products.