Under the Microscope: Clarified Precision Medicine
Why Avestria Invested in this Precision Oncology Startup
In this series, we explain why we invested in our current portfolio companies. In the process, we hope to highlight the white spaces in women’s health and the life sciences — as well as the people, products, and companies working to fill those gaps. The name “Under the Microscope” refers both to our extensive due diligence process and our investment focus on healthcare and the life sciences.
About 20 years ago, researchers realized that identifying a particular mutation in a form of lung cancer could help guide personalized, effective treatment decisions. The decade that followed was transformative for those with lung cancer, physicians, and scientists — but also for cancer patients in general. This discovery, after all, initiated the field of precision oncology.
Oncology specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, which, at its core, is a genomic disease. Mutations in a cell’s genome cause that cell to grow uncontrolled or bypass normal commands that keep the cell healthy and working in harmony with the rest of the body. Genomes, thus, help understand the causes of cancer, drive its diagnosis, and, increasingly, identify treatment for it. Genome-based cancer care, known as precision oncology, recommends treatment options using the unique genomic characteristics of a cancerous tumor — and can lead to higher survival rates, faster successful treatment outcomes, and fewer side effects than a one-size-fits-all approach to cancer treatment.
However, precision oncology requires a genomic analysis of a patient’s tumor, a detailed report from that assessment, and guideline-based treatment options tied to the findings. In addition, tens of thousands of mutations across hundreds of cancer types have been discovered, resulting in new guidelines and numerous opportunities for precision oncology treatments.
The result is significant barriers to patient access, including a healthcare provider’s relevant oncology expertise and the ease of adding precision medicine to routine oncology care. For example, cancer specialists at large university hospitals may have access to specialized experts who can interpret genomic results, but community oncologists — who provide over 80% of cancer care in the United States — may not, creating a gap in the education and application of this genomics-centric approach to precision medicine. In fact, as one article summarized through its title alone, “Limited Genomics Training Among Physicians Remains a Barrier to Genomics-Based Implementation of Precision Medicine.” Quantified, 22% of physicians reported low confidence in their genomic knowledge while 41% cited both their lack of training in identifying appropriate genomic tests and in interpreting genomic testing results as the most significant barrier to ordering these tests for their patients.
An important way to support healthcare providers who want to utilize more genomic testing to improve patient outcomes is through Molecular Tumor Boards. Known as MTBs, Molecular Tumor Boards are multidisciplinary teams — including medical and radiation oncologists, pathologists, geneticists, bioinformaticians, and molecular biologists — that use their collective expertise and knowledge both to interpret genomic tests and recommend an appropriate and personalized treatment for the patient in question.
MTBs meet regularly to review cases and have shown to improve patient outcomes. But because of their limited time, only some — not all — patients benefit. As one analysis of MTBs in clinical practice found, 6,303 cases were reported as discussed in MTBs and 1,107 (17.6%) received treatment recommendations. The remaining cases — almost 83% — that did not receive recommendations had to move ahead without further expert guidance.
Clarified Precision Medicine fills these gaps, allowing healthcare providers and patients to reap the benefits of genomic testing and precision medicine.
Clarified utilizes a combination of human expertise and machine learning to analyze and simplify genomic testing results for oncologists, turning these complex reports into a concise, actionable set of treatment recommendations in 48 hours or fewer. In the process, it helps healthcare providers and patients access personalized, genomically-informed treatments and fill the current gap between genomic testing and receiving care.
Through its first product, ClarifiedSelect™, the company’s network of experts works with an algorithm to interpret genomic tests, combining knowledge, oversight, and technology to compile a list of recommended treatments — including selected therapies, suggested prioritization, and a chance to connect with one of Clarified’s experts — for each patient. Since testing labs cannot enter the practice of medicine due to regulatory constraints, Clarified’s reports provide a necessary bridge between lab and physician, sharing the final report is shared with the patient’s physician.
In contrast with standard genomic testing reports, which are “routinely 20- 50 (and sometimes up to 100) pages and typically provide boilerplate language to guide clinical decision making,” Clarified’s reports are simple, actionable, and only a page long. While concise, these reports still contain available and relevant clinical trial information, as well as references and supporting publications. Since Clarified isn’t contracted with any specific lab or pharmaceutical company, the recommendations will be simply what is best for the patient — not swayed by any obligations or financial incentives on Clarified’s part.
Clarified is focusing first on precision oncology: utilizing the genomic or molecular profiles of tumors to identify optimal personalized treatments. One of the company’s key goals is to support community oncologists, who might be seeing up to 30 patients per day and who might not have the time or expertise to prescribe, analyze, and offer treatments based on genomic testing. Clarified removes those limitations, allowing both physicians and their patients to benefit from an accessible and scalable service.
In addition to ClarifiedSelect™, Clarified Precision Medicine offers OncoGuardian™, which similarly offers a summary of care options, recommended treatments, and risk analyses but specifically for potential severe treatment-related toxicities: the adverse effects that may result from a treatment. For oncology patients, these toxicities can include blood clots, depression, thrombocytopenia (or low platelet count), and pain among others.
More than 85% of healthcare providers would welcome assistance with the interpretation of genomic testing results and would consult an expert in genomic medicine if the option were available.
We invested in Clarified Precision Medicine because it brings this needed leadership in and resource for the field of precision oncology. It provides powerful, human-guided technology for precision oncology and has the potential of making this genome-delivered approach to oncology — one that is rooted in genomics and a deep understanding of each individual tumor at a molecular level — available to every cancer patient. And, similar to the discovery of a particular lung cancer mutation, Clarified’s service may be equally “transformative” -for healthcare providers, oncology practices, payors, and patients alike.
At Avestria Ventures, we look for early-stage women’s health and female-led life science companies with products or technologies that improve healthcare quality and/or access, lower costs, induce clinical or behavioral change, are evidence based, have scalable commercialization plans, and have a sustainable competitive advantage. Know one? Contact us via our website, LinkedIn, or X.
