Triesta Sciences, a unit of HealthCare Global (HCG) Enterprises, is partnering for cancer genomics with Strand Life Sciences, a provider of clinical genomics, to set up a new center for genomics called Strand-Triesta Center for Cancer Genomics (Strand-Triesta) to make genomics-based diagnostics effective, accessible and affordable. Strand-Triesta will enable the world's largest adoption of genomics-based tumor profiling for HCG patients. HCG will adopt the Strand-Triesta advanced cancer diagnostics as a new standard-of-care.

There is a rising healthcare burden of cancer in India with current estimates of a million cases of cancer being reported each year with mortality close to 500,000. It is expected that the number of incidences of cancer will rise five-fold by 2025. The new standard-of-care aims to achieve new frontiers in medicine by introducing concepts like “bench to bedside vision” wherein physicians and patients will have ready access to advanced innovation and discovery right at the bedside.

Sequencing of tumor using next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies and thorough analysis of individual patient's DNA variations will help physicians go beyond a one size fits all model of cancer therapy. Such personalized approaches will improve response rates and effectiveness of targeted, chemo- and radiation therapies. Further, genomic tests can detect hereditary risk in family members of cancer patients.

B. S. Ajaikumar, founder, chairman, HCG Enterprise, said, "We now will incorporate genomic testing which is personalized and will be the future of cancer care. This will help oncologists in clinical decisions and help our patients receive targeted individualized therapies that will improve diagnosis and prognosis of cancer."

Vijay Chandru, chairman and CEO, Strand Life Sciences, said, "The coming together of HCG, Triesta and Strand will result in achieving a scale of adoption of genomic testing, which is unprecedented even in the West. This scale enables affordability, but more importantly, the more cancer genomes we profile, the deeper the insights about cancer we gain. Deeper insights lead to informed decisions in cancer care. "