We are confident that this knowledge and experience can be useful for cancer patients
A: Christian, could you please give the reader a short intro on what Oncology Compass is and why you have created this platform in the first place?
C: Oncology Compass — or OC, as we call it — was co-created by Capptoo and MSD Merck Sharp & Dohme AG in 2020 to support doctors and other health care practitioners in their approaches to treating cancer. Since oncology is a very dynamic field with lots of advancements all the time, it is difficult for those treating cancer patients to keep up with the ever-changing research on new cancer treatments.
OC assists in that as it provides access to specifically selected practice-relevant research on new cancer treatments, which is provided by the know how and dedication of a highly motivated and close-knit team of medical professionals who want to assist oncologists.
A: This is an interesting approach. So, what would be the difference between Oncology Compass and the commonly used research platform Pubmed, which is freely accessible and most used by doctors to find relevant cancer research?
C: The unique angle that OC provides is that due to the nature of our scientific boards, which include renowned and practicing oncologists who also happen to be on top of their game when it comes to new cancer research, the articles and publications in Oncology Compass are really relevant for daily practice. The research is brand new from the latest cancer congresses around the world. This way, oncologists and any other healthcare professionals treating cancer patients know exactly what new treatments are due to come out, and they can use this information to guide their decision-making in clinical practice.
Oncology Compass feature Ideation session inside Capptoo
A: In other words, those using Oncology Compass do not need to worry about spending their valuable time on Pubmed, searching through hundreds of publications to find relevant ones, rather than having the most up-to-date information right at their fingertips to use?
C: Exactly, it is a huge time-saver, and we are making sure to allocate the best resources to come up with these publications, which are mainly clinical trials, and categorize them in ways so the users of Oncology Compass will easily find what they are looking for.
A: Could you please explain that a bit more, how exactly do the users find relevant articles out of a mass of publications? Do you have a ‘Search’ function in Oncology Compass?
C: We don’t have a direct search function in the system but rather a so-called ‘tagging’ system. All of our publications are categorized according to certain tags, for example, a publication of a clinical trial can be categorized as covering the topic of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), it can have another tag for the cancer stage of the patients or the line of therapy under investigation, as well as certain bio markers which play a role in that particular clinical trial.
When an Oncology Compass user now wants to find publications on stage IV NSCLC patients with EGFR mutations who are treatment naive, they can select these tags and will be presented with exactly these publications, giving them the option to read just those research papers and their time is not spent on lengthy research of finding these publications.
A: That’s indeed a time-saver! Since this platform is only two years old and surely, a lot of time has gone into development and bringing these publications in, which cancer types are currently covered in Oncology Compass?
C: Currently, we cover non-small cell and small cell lung cancer, mesothelioma, as well as esophageal, gastric and kidney cancer. The research is provided and selected by 12 members of the scientific board, who are all practicing oncologists themselves, and who spend their time to look through the new research from more than 12 cancer congresses to find the ones that are relevant.
For this year, we have planned to introduce melanoma, multiple myeloma and head and neck cancer, followed by bladder, breast, endometrial, liver, pancreatic, prostate and thyroid cancer as well as leukemia in the coming years.
When an Oncology Compass user now wants to find publications on stage IV NSCLC patients with EGFR mutations who are treatment naive, they can select these tags and will be presented with exactly these publications, giving them the option to read just those research papers and their time is not spent on lengthy research of finding these publications.
For this year, we have planned to introduce melanoma, multiple myeloma and head and neck cancer, followed by bladder, breast, endometrial, liver, pancreatic and more in the coming years.
A: So this will be a busy year ahead for you then?
C: Absolutely, as we are planning to add additional features to the platform to create a better user experience, such as providing downloadable extended study summaries, which makes the process of reading the research much easier, as full-text studies do not need to be accessed via a link to the journal anymore, particularly if they are hidden behind a paywall which is a major roadblock to research consumption.
The downloadable study summary will make sure that the users get the major information about the study and its results as well as relevant figures and tables but it spares them to have to go through the whole paper to find the relevant results. Again, this is a major time-saver and hopefully, will be well-received.
“We are lucky to have some of the major players in the industry as sponsors, including MSD Merck Sharp & Dohme AG, Amgen, Roche, AstraZeneca and Takeda
A: Sounds great! But surely, this is a lot of work and sounds as if it binds quite some manpower to keep Oncology Compass going. How is all of this financed?
C: We are lucky to have some of the major players in the industry as sponsors, including MSD Merck Sharp & Dohme AG, Amgen, Roche, AstraZeneca and Takeda Switzerland, so we can concentrate on developing and maintaining the Oncology Compass platform and helping to save lives by knowledge sharing.
A: Thank you very much for giving us valuable insight into the Oncology Compass platform. How can readers who might be interested in joining Oncology Compass get access?
C: It’s free to join and requires provision of name and email address to sign up on
oncologycompass.ch.
