Onco.com’s path-breaking technology, Online Cancer Patient Assistance Pathway (OCPAP™), built to help cancer patients get personalized treatment guidance as per international standardized protocols, was honored at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Breakthrough: A Global Summit for Oncology Innovators conference, held at Bangkok, Thailand from October 11-13, 2019. The ASCO Breakthrough Summit brought together the very latest in oncology practice, scientific discovery, and technological advances to transform the future of cancer care.
The abstract of the study titled: “Development of ‘Online Cancer Patient Assistance Pathway’ (OCPAP™) technology platform to provide treatment guidance for cancer patients in developing countries”, was one of the highest-rated research topics submitted by experts from across the globe, was presented by Dr. Amit Jotwani, Co-founder and Chief of Medical Affairs at Onco.com at the ASCO Breakthrough Summit.
Onco.com’s OCPAP™ platform is the first service in the world to provide customized cancer treatment guidance, helping patients with the right information they need to navigate their journey through cancer. Through this platform, any patient or caregiver can visit onco.com and avail free preliminary treatment guidance by providing basic information like organ affected, stage of the disease, patient’s general condition and treatment done to date. The algorithm then provides them with diagnostic and treatment assistance as per international protocols, based on proprietary knowledge database created by Onco.com’s team of oncologists.
Dr. Jotwani said, “To be recognized by a prestigious global authority in Cancer such as ASCO, is a true validation of our work in the field of cancer, through our pioneering patient-centric platform, we aim to fill the gaps in cancer care across developing countries, as well as help patients and doctors make the right treatment decisions based on the latest treatment protocols. It gives us immense pride that our abstract was selected by ASCO’s awards committee, giving us the confidence that we are on the right path in achieving our goal of making cancer care more patient centric.”
According to recent statistics, there are 3 million cancer patients in India, with 1.5 million new patients being diagnosed every year. This number is slated to touch 2 million by 2022. Although the burden of cancer in developing countries is less than their developed counterparts, the proportion of cancer-related deaths is 70% in these countries. As per the Global Survey of Clinical Oncology Workforce 2018, for every 10,000 cancer patients, there are only 1 to 5 trained oncologists in developing countries like India, while there are 50 to 100 in developed countries. Likewise, the new patients-per-oncologist ratio ranges between 700 to 10,000 in developing countries compared to 70 to 200 in developed nations.
Given these challenges and gaps in the sector, OCPAP™ can help millions of cancer patients, with limited access to qualified oncologists, and get a better understanding of their treatment options.
Rashie Jain, Co-founder and CEO of Onco.com, said, “Our platform provides personalized treatment guidance to patients, from a wide network of oncologists in India and the US. OCPAP™ is an initiative to reach out to every cancer patient with access to the internet. More than 25,000 patients have availed this service to date, and this number is growing at a rapid pace, which is indicative of the need for such a platform.”
In addition to presenting the study at the summit, Onco.com’s Co-founder Dr. Amit Jotwani was also a recipient of the 2019 Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO Merit Awards, which recognize oncology fellows for their valuable research in clinical cancer treatment and technology innovations in cancer care.
