C2i Genomics & Karkinos Healthcare partner to bring AI-powered cancer detection to India

New Delhi: C2i Genomics, a cancer intelligence company, has announced a strategic partnership with Karkinos Healthcare, a technology led managed care platform for cancer, to co-develop the minimal residual disease (MRD) market in India.

The partnership enables C2i Genomics to bring innovative cancer detection technology to drive R&D, future pharma partnerships and clinical use in India and supports the company’s long-term goals to scale pharma R&D projects around the globe.

Cancer rates in India are an epidemic on the rise; from 2010 to 2019, cancer deaths increased 26.3%. With a growing need for well-equipped labs to empower physicians and patients with better cancer detection and treatment options, this partnership will mark India’s first whole-genome sequencing (WGS) MRD test. The partnership will expand MRD monitoring within the Karkinos’ health system and its partners using the C2i Genomics’ ultrasensitive whole-genome analysis. 

“Since founding C2i Genomics our team has been laser-focused on making sophisticated AI-informed cancer diagnostics and tumor monitoring available throughout the world, regardless of where patients or clinical trials are located,” said Asaf Zviran, CEO and co-founder of C2i Genomics. “Karkinos Healthcare shares in our vision to increase access to distributed cancer monitoring and will be instrumental in advancing our commercialization efforts to bring the C2inform MRD test to labs across India.” 

The C2inform MRD test enables physicians to trace small amounts of persistent or recurrent cancer much earlier and at far lower levels than currently available technologies. C2i Genomics’ SaaS solution utilizes a cloud-based platform to perform cancer tumor burden monitoring on a global scale, utilizing equipped labs and sequencing networks worldwide. By using machine learning and AI technology to analyze patients’ blood for early detection of cancer recurrence or resistance, C2i Genomics directly drives more informed treatment decisions and personalized treatment plans. 

”At Karkinos, we are combining best-in-class oncology expertise with advances in technology and biosciences to promote early detection of cancer,“ said R. Venkataramanan, CEO and founder, Karkinos Healthcare. ”Our partnership with C2i Genomics will enable cancer patients in India to benefit from the MRD test which will be available through our Advanced Center for Cancer Diagnostics and Research at Kochi” 

Karkinos is pioneering the Distributed Cancer Care Network model in India addressing clinical needs of cancer patients, with a focus on early detection of cancer. The company works with multiple healthcare institutions and professionals in the oncology ecosystem, successfully bringing care closer to patients backed by a robust technology platform. Karkinos already offers its services in the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Manipur and Delhi NCR and is planning to ramp up its operations across India. The company is a member of National Cancer Grid, a group of 260+ cancer focused institutions. Karkinos Healthcare is also setting up a Cancer Centre in Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) premises at Imphal, in partnership with the Government of Manipur. 

C2i Genomics recently announced the CE Mark approval for their C2inform MRD test, bringing distributed cancer monitoring to cancer centers across Europe. This new partnership with Karkinos Healthcare adds to the growing global lab network of C2i Genomics, with successful alliances including OncoDNA, NovogeneAIT Genomics, Premier Inc., NuProbe Global and Twist Bioscience.