- COMPASS is one of the largest public-private partnerships under the European Union's (EU) Innovative Health Initiative (IHI).
- The consortium aims to advance early detection and prediction of cardiotoxicity in cancer patients and cancer survivors.
- The initiative will leverage AI, advanced imaging, biomarkers, and integrated care pathways.
GE HealthCare (Nasdaq: GEHC) today announced its leading industrial role in the new COMPASS consortium, a five-year initiative focused on improving precision cardio-oncology care and advancing early detection of cardiovascular risks in cancer patients across Europe. COMPASS combines clinical excellence with novel healthcare technology, and with a total budget of €50.5 million and more than sixty partners, it is one of the largest public-private partnerships under the IHI.
Cardiovascular diseases are rising sharply among cancer patients and survivors, driven both by the increasing prevalence of pre-existing cardiovascular conditions at diagnosis and by the expanding use of highly effective antitumor therapies including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and targeted therapies many of which are associated with cardiovascular toxicities. Global studiesi show that heart-related complications are now the second leading cause of death in cancer survivors, after the cancer itself, accounting for up to 10% of mortality. Despite the broad recognition of cardiotoxicity as a major clinical challenge, evidence-based approaches to its management remain restricted. Limited understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying cardiotoxicity, a lack of reliable biomarkers, and the absence of effective preventive strategies, heighten patient risks and place growing pressure on healthcare systems, particularly in Europe's aging population.
Across Europe, the COMPASS partners aim to improve the cardiovascular health of cancer patients and survivors through a comprehensive, end-to-end, patient centered clinical pathway, enabling timely intervention and safer continuation of cancer therapy while reducing the risk of cardiovascular complications. By fostering multidisciplinary collaboration, regulatory alignment, as well as patient awareness and engagement, COMPASS aims to ensure that clinically meaningful innovations are effectively translated into routine healthcare practice within Europe.
"King's College London is looking forward to providing academic leadership and scientific coordination to COMPASS, harnessing the consortium expertise across cardiology, oncology, molecular science, big data and AI to address the increasing challenge in cardiotoxicity in cancer care," said Steve Archibald, Professor in Molecular Imaging, School of Biomedical Engineering Imaging Sciences, King's College London. "We aim to promote integrated care models to drive widespread adoption across healthcare systems."
The program intends to predict cardiotoxicity risk, detect cardiovascular disease at an earlier stage, coordinate and personalize cancer and cardiovascular care, supporting patients in daily life, and managing long-term cardiovascular effects of cancer treatment. To achieve this, COMPASS will focus on the following areas:
- Identification of novel biomarkers for cardiotoxicity diagnosis and risk stratification: advancing the early detection of cardiotoxicity through innovative molecular imaging, advanced cardiac imaging techniques, and multi-omics biomarker discovery, which integrates genetic, molecular, and metabolic data to enable earlier, more precise disease prediction and diagnosis.
- AI-enabled predictive and clinical decision support tools: leveraging AI to integrate real-world data, imaging, non-imaging, biomarkers and wearable data into predictive models and decision-support tools for personalized care in clinical settings.
- Improved care delivery and enhanced patient engagement: promoting integrated care pathways, patient education and stakeholder engagement to ensure equitable access, long-term follow-up and patient-centred outcomes.
"This initiative is well positioned to enable patient-centered cancer care that takes cardiotoxicity risk into account, supports the early detection of cardiotoxic side-effects, and promotes long-term heart health for oncology patients," said Eigil Samset, General Manager, Cardiology Solutions at GE HealthCare and COMPASS Industry Lead. "We are honored to play an integral part as industry lead in this multidisciplinary collaboration which brings together the expertise of leading European academic, clinical, industry, and patient advocacy groups. By developing an AI-powered, integrated care pathway that connects oncologists and cardiologists in clinical practice, this collaboration has the potential to further improve cancer survival by tackling cardiovascular-related morbidity."
The project is co-funded under the Horizon Europe framework, as part of IHI which is a public-private partnership between the European Union and the European life science industries. The Joint Undertaking (IHI JU) under grant agreement Nr. #101253264 receives support from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation program and from COCIR, EFPIA, Europa Bío, MedTech Europe, Vaccines Europe and COMPASS contributing partners. The grant agreement was signed on March 25, 2026, and runs through the next five years. For more information and for the full list of consortium members, please visit the IHI website.
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i MDPI. Cardiotoxicity of Chemotherapy: A Multi-OMIC Perspective January 8. 2025. https://www.mdpi.com/2039-4713/15/1/9
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