COLONTOWN University launches secure platform for colorectal cancer patients

HalioDx

Paltown Development Foundation and HalioDx team up for Colorectal Cancer Testing Center. (Credit: dream designs/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.)

HalioDx SAS, the immuno-oncology diagnostic company, has announced the company will be participating in COLONTOWN University (CU), a new online learning center for over 5,300 Colorectal Cancer (CRC) patients and caregivers.

COLONTOWN University is a secure online platform that hosts training and educational resources developed by PALTOWN Development Foundation and its partners. The site is launching a suite of learning centers that include the latest scientific research, clinical data and actionable resources about newer diagnostic/surveillance tests for CRC patients. CU will offer a Diagnostic and Surveillance Testing Center and a Clinical Trials Center, which provide interactive features and structured content across a range of media. As part of the initiative, HalioDx will provide educational resources to CU “students” (CRC patients and caregivers), on Immunoscore, an in vitro diagnostic test predicting the risk of relapse in early stage colon cancer patients and enlightening decision-making process on therapeutic options.

“We are excited to be part of this innovative platform to increase awareness of important diagnostic tests such as Immunoscore for CRC patients,” said Graham Poage, PhD, Director of Medical Science for HalioDx in the US. “This collaborative process gives patients and their care teams valuable information that can help facilitate conversations about these important assays.”

“New prognostic and predictive tests like Immunoscore can give patients important data that can inform decision-making during the course of treatment,” according to Nancy Seybold, COO of Paltown Development Foundation. “We are excited to work with HalioDx to help educate patients regarding their options for testing and how their personal immune response biomarker can help to understand their own cancer evolution ”

The new Diagnostic and Surveillance Testing Center provides an portal for patients to learn what testing might be appropriate for them, how each option might contribute to treatment decisions, and how insurance and patient assistance programs will affect out-of-pocket costs.

Immunoscore is an in vitro diagnostic test predicting the risk of relapse and response to therapy in early stage colon cancer patients by measuring the host immune response at the tumor site. It is a risk assessment tool that provides independent and superior prognostic value to the usual tumor risk parameters and should be used as an adjunct to the TNM classification. (Pagès F et al. The Lancet 2018, Sinicrope F et al. JNCI cancer spectrum 2020, Mlecnik et al. JCO 2020). Immunoscore® can thus improve individual patient treatment strategies, particularly the modulation of adjuvant chemotherapy in stage II and stage III.

COLONTOWN UNIVERSITY supports over 5,300 patients and caregivers in its exclusive online community COLONTOWN, as well as the broader CRC community. COLONTOWN pioneered a unique model of patient-led empowerment with over 120 private “neighborhoods” for patients and caregivers, providing the emotional and psychosocial support they need as well as the latest science-based data to inform their care and treatment.

Source: Company Press Release