Swiss medical software company Sophia Genetics has partnered with the Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center in New York and UK-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology company AstraZeneca to address global inequalities in cancer care.

The partners aim to improve worldwide access to advanced cancer testing and data, with the goal of advancing health equity.

The collaboration will establish a decentralised global network for cancer testing, which will offer MSK's proprietary tests via SOPHiA GENETICS' platform.

SOPHiA GENETICS CEO and co-founder Jurgi Camblong said: “The power of a decentralised network like the SOPHiA DDM Platform is that diverse data inputs are continuously added to the network to fuel and teach our artificial intelligence algorithms, helping to produce stronger data outputs each time.

“The diverse data that will be unlocked through the partnership between SOPHiA GENETICS, AstraZeneca and MSK will undoubtedly contribute to the collective intelligence needed on a global scale to revolutionise the future of cancer research and treatment.”

SOPHiA GENETICS said the collaboration will provide data-driven insights and create a comprehensive dataset from diverse populations.

The first versions of the programme are due to be made available to healthcare institutions by the end of this year.

AstraZeneca global oncology diagnostics head Kristina Rodnikova said: “While cancer continues to be a leading cause of death worldwide, we know that a key barrier for cancer patients and their physicians is a lack of access to high quality comprehensive genomic testing.

“Broad access to quality testing can vastly improve cancer diagnosis and physicians’ treatment decisions.

“We believe that our collaboration with MSK and SOPHiA GENETICS will provide physicians and patients with the reliable data that they need to better diagnose their disease.”

SOPHiA GENETICS recently had its platform installed by Italian oncology facility IRCCS Istituto Romagnolo per lo Studio dei Tumori (IRST) ‘Dino Amadori’.