The Caris Vision

Welcome to the Chairman’s Corner and the new Caris Life Sciences™ website. It’s an exciting, transformative time in healthcare. Technological advances are creating the opportunity for a new company to emerge, one that will usher in an era of improved health through the use of precision healthcare. Caris Life Sciences is that company. We are using revolutionary new technologies to create highly accurate diagnostics and theranostics. As a result, patients will know the exact details of their illnesses and physicians will know precisely the best treatment options. We recently changed our name to Caris Life Sciences to reflect the multi-faceted, broad-based organization that we’ve become.

I started this Chairman’s Corner in order to share my vision about our organization and our direction. Caris is focused on the concept of what I call ‘health improvement’. Our philosophy is simple - by combining innovative technologies and the highest-quality services, healthcare will be improved and overall costs will then be reduced. Lower cost and quality are not at odds with each other. By providing the right diagnosis at an early stage, patients can receive the right treatments and get well faster, thereby avoiding expensive additional care.

Caris is advancing a new class of precision innovations in healthcare. We are poised to launch a series of blood-based diagnostics using a proprietary platform that is truly revolutionary. Through the use of this technology, physicians will be able to diagnose patients at earlier stages of disease and, in many cases, treat with less-invasive procedures and fewer side effects – all through simple blood tests. Stay tuned for more details in the near future.

Another Caris precision innovation is our Target Now portfolio of cancer tests. Target Now tests inform treating physicians about the possible therapeutic alternatives available to treat a patient’s unique tumor. Target Now starts by combing the latest clinical evidence to identify markers within tumor types. Then, advanced molecular profiling is performed to analyze and identify these markers within a patient’s specific tumor. Once the unique profile of the patient’s tumor is established, the Target Now evidence system compares the patient’s specific profile against the latest clinical evidence and lists the therapies that are most likely to be effective. Through the continued expansion of our Target Now portfolio and other ongoing initiatives, we are striving to become the ‘trusted guide’ for physicians, patients and payers as they navigate the complex landscape of cancer and the ever-changing information and evidence.

We can only achieve the “highest quality” by attracting and retaining doctors and scientists who are leaders in their fields. Our pathologists train at some of the best facilities in the nation, including Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic and Duke. The company provides them with the best technology, ongoing education, and an intellectually-charged academic environment. Our pathologists focus their talents to find the right diagnosis from the onset, saving the patient from misdiagnoses and unnecessary treatments that are often painful and costly. The Caris quality commitment to find the right diagnosis the first time, every time, conserves healthcare resources and reduces costs for everyone.

Innovation, quality and commitment are also demonstrably apparent in our scientific leadership. Dr. George Poste and Dr. Jonathan Knowles bring a combination of world-renowned scientific expertise and business savvy that will contribute to Caris as we further establish ourselves as the leader in precision healthcare.

A final guiding principle that directs our actions on a daily basis is that Caris will never compromise our quality or ethics. We are tirelessly focused on becoming the ‘trusted intermediary’ for physicians and their patients. We recognize that we need to earn this trust each and every day through all of our actions. It is only through the highest integrity and the highest quality that we will be able to achieve our goal of helping as many people as possible.

In future Chairman’s Corners, I’ll share my thoughts about health improvement, healthcare policy, technological innovation, and many other topics. I hope you share my enthusiasm about our company, our progress and the opportunities that lie ahead in 2010 and beyond.