MedTech Cambridge Cognition, which develops and markets digital solutions to assess brain health, has won a £2m contract for a pivotal cancer therapy trial.
Cambridge Cognition was spun-out of the University of Cambridge to commercialise its ground-breaking technology.
Matthew Stork, chief executive officer of Cambridge Cognition, said: “Advances in cancer treatment have led to increased consideration for limiting the side-effects that impact patients’ quality of life.
“Reducing cognitive impairment could have a major impact on patients’ lives. We are pleased to be working with a major pharmaceutical company to support their development programme.
“With significant investment being made in cancer trials by the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, we expect that this could become a considerable growth area for Cambridge Cognition in the future.”
Cambridge Cognition will provide its proprietary cognitive assessments (CANTAB®) as an exploratory endpoint with revenue from the contract expected to be recognised over the next five years.
Regulatory approvals for oncology drugs have almost tripled over the last 10 years with 16 approvals in 2013 compared to 43 approvals in 2022).
With a growing number of therapeutics available, pharmaceutical companies are now investing heavily in differentiating their new drugs and are particularly focused on limiting long-term side effects, such as cognitive impairment, which impacts 30 per cent of patients following chemotherapy.
Cognitive decline associated with cancer most notably affects attention, memory, and executive function.
CANTAB offers the sensitivity and specificity to measure these distinct cognitive processes.
Recognising this, CANTAB has been selected as an exploratory endpoint in this pivotal oncology trial.
Cambridge Cognition secured this contract because it offers well-validated, proprietary assessments, as well as a delivery platform with a track record of successful, global deployment.
Supported by the company’s experienced clinical project management team, CANTAB will be deployed in nine countries and in 11 languages to accurately assess cognition across 70 trial sites.
Last year Cambridge Cognition acquired eClinicalHealth, a virtual clinical trial solution provider, for consideration of up to £1.7m.