GENIE Biopharma Collaborative (BPC)

In 2019, AACR GENIE launched the BioPharma Collaborative (BPC), a new research collaboration with a coalition of ten biopharmaceutical companies. BPC builds on Project GENIE and aims to generate real-world clinico-genomic data by expanding the scope and accelerating the speed of comprehensive clinical data collection for over 130,000 tumor cases that have undergone next generation sequencing using multi-gene panels at the institutions participating in Project GENIE. The focus of the GENIE BPC is to expand the limited clinical data from Project GENIE with detailed phenomic data that characterize baseline patient and tumor attributes, treatment exposures, and cancer outcomes. The phenomic data are curated from electronic health records according to the PRISSMM framework, which utilizes a cancer-agnostic data model that standardizes key components of outcome ascertainment in oncology.

PM-UHN is one of only four institutions to have been selected for participation in phase 1 of GENIE BPC, along with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center. BPC Phase 1 successfully delivered 6 tumor cohorts (lung, colorectal, breast, pancreatic, prostate, and bladder), comprising 7,397 patients with harmonized treatment histories, clinical‑grade NGS, and real‑world outcomes. CGP’s contributions to Phase 1 included 55 lung cases, 70 pancreas cases, 60 prostate cases, and 47 bladder cases.

Phase 2 of GENIE BPC began in 2022 and includes the addition of five participating institutions: University of California San Francisco (UCSF), Providence-Swedish Health Alliance (PROV), Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO), Wake Forest University Health Sciences (WAKE), and Johns Hopkins University (JHU). Phase 2 also includes the expansion of cancer cohorts (renal cell carcinoma, ovarian cancer, cutaneous melanoma, esophagogastric cancer) as well as updated and new datasets for lung and colorectal cancer cohorts from Phase 1. CGP’s case contributions toward GENIE BPC Phase 2 includes 35 new lung, 141 colorectal, 42 renal cell carcinoma, 80 ovarian, 56 melanoma and 100 esophagogastric cancer cases.