COTA Supports FDA Assessment of Real-World Data through Membership in COVID-19 Evidence Accelerator

BOSTON, June 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --COTA Inc., a healthcare technology company that uses real-world data (RWD) to bring clarity to cancer care, is pleased to announce a number of initiatives that are bringing enhanced understanding of COVID-19 in near real-time. Leveraging its past knowledge of real-world evidence applications and learnings, COTA has joined the COVID-19 Evidence Accelerator program, a joint initiative of Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) and the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the Food and Drug Administration. Through this initiative, COTA is delivering findings from its observational, real-world studies using data from over 3,000 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 within the Hackensack Meridian Health network.

COTA's focus and expertise has traditionally centered around collecting real-world data to generate real-world evidence to support cancer research and care delivery. However, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company has redirected a significant amount of its resources to analyze real-world data collected from affected patients to reveal valuable insights. Through the COVID-19 Evidence Accelerator, which brings together the country's leading experts in health data aggregation and analytics, these findings can be shared with front line care providers and answer key questions about COVID-19 treatment and response as quickly as possible.

COTA was selected as a key collaborator in this work because of the company's expertise in real-world data (RWD), its advanced analytics capabilities, and custom visualization tools. COTA's team of data scientists has leveraged these assets to provide an expeditious and thorough analysis of Hackensack Meridian Health patients affected by COVID-19.

Through this collaboration, COTA continues to highlight the value of RWD to generate deep clinical insights on patients receiving care across a variety of practice settings. Initial findings, published in medRxiv, a leading Yale University-affiliated online platform for researchers to share scientific information prior to publication in peer-reviewed journals, show the following:

• Hypertension, the most common coexisting condition, does not have a major impact on survival from the disease when adjusted for age and other comorbid conditions.
• Commonly prescribed medications to treat high blood pressure including ACE-inhibitors and ARBs may potentially have a positive impact.
• Hydroxychloroquine does not improve survival for patients hospitalized with COVID-19.
• Another drug, tocilizumab, may improve survival among critically ill intensive care unit patients. If the results are confirmed through additional research, tocilizumab would become one of the first medications that can improve survival from COVID-19.

"We are in an unprecedented time when it comes to using real-world evidence to simultaneously inform frontline healthcare providers seeking how best to provide care, as well as impact rapid regulatory decision-making, and clinical trial design," said Mike Doyle, CEO and Chairman of COTA, Inc. "Through our work with the Evidence Accelerator, we've been able to work closely with the FDA and industry leaders to enhance our national and global understanding of this pandemic. While randomized clinical trials will ultimately help validate these initial findings, the real-world observational studies in progress now offer the first useful early insights into effective treatment strategies for COVID-19."

About COTA, Inc.
Founded by doctors, engineers and data scientists, COTA is committed to bringing a patient-first approach to cancer care through the use of real-world evidence. The Company organizes fragmented, often hidden data from the real world to provide clarity in cancer care. Combining clinical expertise in cancer with proprietary technology and advanced analytics, COTA helps inform decisions and action in oncology. COTA partners with providers, payers, and life science companies to ensure that everyone touched by cancer has a clear path to the right care. To learn more about COTA and how to make better decisions with the right data, visit cotahealthcare.com.

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SOURCE COTA, Inc.