St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center said it has forged a cancer research partnership with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society that will bring new clinical trials to its downtown campus.
The announcement comes not long after competitor Hartford Healthcare announced an alliance with New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering. And it fits with a growing trend of cancer research partnerships in Connecticut and beyond.
Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London also has an arrangement with Dana-Farber.
Kathleen M. Noone, executive director of St. Francis’ oncology line, said in an interview with the Hartford Business Journal earlier this month that the MSK deal didn’t put pressure on St. Francis because it had its own well-established cancer research program.
Queried Friday about the change, Noone said in an email that the partnership is not in response to Hartford Healthcare’s alliance.
Rather, she said a recent analysis indicated that St. Francis “needed a broader, stronger portfolio of clinical trials geared towards the hematologic malignancies.”
“This relationship with DFCI through the LLS is a specific targeted relationship to allow us access exactly these kinds of trials,” Noone wrote.
St. Francis and its Mount Sinai Regional Cancer Center is now one of 11 community oncology sites across the country in Dana-Farber’s clinical trial network for blood cancer therapies.
