Oncoshot and Gleneagles Global Hospitals Bring Cancer Clinical Trial Patient Matching to South India
Nilesh Atre, 9 February 2023
Dr Nilesh Atre, director for Oncoshot India (left) and Dr Dinesh Yellamelli, group head for clinical trial operations and research at GGH (right) during the MOU signing.
Earlier last year in March, Oncoshot India signed an MOU with the Global Gleneagles Hospitals (GGH). This is the first of its kind in India when it comes to cancer patient matching for clinical trials in India. They have since implemented the Oncoshot platform across the GGH group of hospitals. This includes cancer clinical trial matching and relevant supporting services to benefit oncologists and cancer patients and their families and caregivers.
GGH is a component of a group of hospitals owned by one of the most prominent healthcare organisations in Asia, Parkway Pantai, and is one of Hyderabad’s top tertiary care multi-super speciality hospitals. It also has sites spanning Bengaluru, Chennai, and Mumbai. GGH is a part of IHH Berhad Healthcare Group, one of the world’s largest healthcare providers.
GGH Chennai.
Clinical trials at GGH are coordinated by Global Clinical Research Services (GCRS), a comprehensive trial site management organisation serving the biopharmaceutical and medical device industry. At the head of the GCRS team is Dr Dinesh Yellamelli, group head for clinical trial operations and research at GGH.
“The GGH and GCRS leadership are looking forward to the clinical trial matching benefits of the Oncoshot ecosystem. Presently, the Oncoshot dashboard gives us an excellent digital representation of our oncology patients’ data,” said Dr Dinesh. “Overall, we have had an excellent collaboration experience with the Oncoshot India team led by Dr Nilesh Atre. We expect the Oncoshot ecosystem will bring a much-needed value to the entire Indian oncology landscape at an urgent, rapid, and expansive pace.”
Dr Nilesh and Dr Dinesh together with the GCRS team.
Major public health problems are arising in India as non-communicable diseases which account for 63% of all deaths. Of this, 9% is due to cancer. They are lifestyle-related, have a long latent period, and require specialised infrastructure and human resources for treatment. As preventable communicable diseases still present a high burden in India, they compete with medical resource allocation. Cancer treatment needs a multidisciplinary approach to be available at all regional cancer centres.
Many cancer patients in India remain largely unaware of clinical trials. However, the recent infrastructural advancements in the local private hospitals make India an ideal platform for conducting clinical trials. This is further bolstered by the robust IT systems that facilitate information access and productivity.
Dr Dinesh has been instrumental in leading the collaboration effort with Oncoshot India on behalf of GGH leadership. The leadership team and oncologists include:
· Mr Anurag Yadav, CEO, IHH Healthcare India
· Dr Ananth Rao, then COO, IHH Healthcare India
· Dr Vivek Talaulikar, present COO, IHH Healthcare India
· Dr Rajeev Vijay Kumar, Oncologist, GGH Bangalore
· Dr Alok Khullar, CEO, Gleneagles Global Health City (GGHC) Chennai
· Mr Biju Nair, Cluster COO, GGH Bengaluru
· Dr Riyaz Khan, Cluster CEO, GGH Hyderabad
· Dr Raja Sundaram, Director of Oncology, GGHC Chennai
· Dr Ram Prabhu, Head of Medical Oncology, GGHC Chennai
· Dr Rajeshwari, Lead Oncologist and Head of Clinical Data Management, GGH Chennai
· Dr Rajeev Vijayakumar, Consultant for Medical Oncology, GGH Bengaluru
· Dr Ravi Kumar Saxena, Consultant, Haemato-Oncology, GGH Hyderabad
Together, they have led this collaborative effort with a uniquely progressive vision for the welfare of cancer patients and their families.
As GGH is an early adopter of the Oncoshot technology in India, this collaboration is a potential reference model for the rest of the Indian clinical trials landscape. It also gives global trial sponsors the chance to tap into the real-time aggregated patient insights of the world’s second-largest population.