The Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI), an internationally acclaimed Comprehensive Cancer Center, collaborates with Kaiku Health, an innovator in the field of digital therapeutics for oncology, to develop the next generation of patient-reported outcomes and symptom management.
The collaboration is part of a larger clinical trial named NADINA, a phase III trial for neoadjuvant immunotherapy for stage 3 melanoma, where NKI is the principal investigator. NKI uses the Kaiku Health platform in symptom management and patient-reported outcome monitoring of melanoma patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies and BRAF/MEK therapies. In addition to the Netherlands, the NADINA study includes patients from around Europe, Australia, and the US.
The clinical trial is one of the most modern trials ever designed, particularly in its methods and patient-centric approach. Through systematic monitoring of patients’ symptoms and patient-reported outcomes and the use of Machine Learning in predictive symptom management, Kaiku Health helps to understand and improve the patients’ quality of life and to provide improved patient safety. The platform connects patients with their care teams and provides timely support and guidance throughout the treatment pathway. The use of the platform also improves patient engagement, as they are an active part of the treatment which underlines the true patient experience necessary for evaluating the effectiveness of therapy.
“We are excited to collaborate with NKI to develop the next generation of digital patient monitoring and management. The institute is one of the leading cancer centers in the world. They have been paving the way for the future of cancer care with excellent research and it is a great privilege for us at Kaiku Health to work with dedicated professionals such as Prof. Blank and Judith Lijnsvelt”, says Lauri Sippola, co-founder and CEO at Kaiku Health. “Together, we can improve the patient experience and their quality of life both during and after treatment.”
As a recognition of his pioneering work in neoadjuvant immunotherapy, including an increasingly patient-centered approach, NKI has presented Professor Christian Blank with the Patient Impact Award 2021. Founded to highlight all groundbreaking clinical innovations at the NKI, the award recognizes clinical innovations that have made, or are expected to make, significant improvements in diagnostics, treatment, or quality of life for people with cancer.
“With likely curing more and more melanoma patients by applying checkpoint inhibition in earlier and earlier stages and in the neoadjuvant setting, personalization of the therapy and focusing on long-term quality of life of our patients becomes more and more important”, says Prof. Christian Blank at NKI.
With the lead of Prof. Blank, NKI and Kaiku Health are paving the way for improving patient support and engagement during clinical trials and beyond, thus empowering patients to take part in their treatment. The data collected from the patient-reported outcomes will be utilized for valuable research efforts at NKI. The long-term intent is to better understand which patients can have less intensive follow-up and which patients need more intense follow-up appointments to improve their quality of life and to identify earlier relapses so that they can be re-operated. In the future, patients with favorable parameters could return back to their normal lives right away.