Inova Schar Cancer joins pioneering national effort to transform cancer care through ARPA-H’s ADAPT Program

Fairfax, VA – May 27, 2025 – Inova Schar Cancer is proud to participate in a groundbreaking national effort to transform how cancer is treated, through a major award from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). The initiative—ADvanced Analysis for Precision cancer Therapy (ADAPT)—aims to change the way cancer treatment decisions are made by continuously adapting care to the patient’s unique and evolving disease.

ARPA-H, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, announced its commitment of up to $142 million to revolutionize personalized cancer care by dynamically tracking tumor changes through multiple lines of treatments. If successful, ADAPT’s new tools and protocols will save American lives and reduce the massive economic burden of cancer nationwide.

The program seeks to improve survival rates, reduce side effects, and minimize unnecessary treatment costs by using a novel framework that continuously monitors a patient’s cancer and adapts treatment based on how the disease evolves.

The ADAPT program will bring together experts in three critical technical areas:

• TA1: Therapy Recommendation Techniques, developing models to interpret molecular data and recommend treatments;
• TA2: Evolutionary Clinical Trial Design, where Inova will contribute to designing adaptive trials that change treatment strategies over time;
• TA3: Treatment and Analysis Platform, building the infrastructure to deliver and analyze complex, personalized treatment regimens.

Inova Schar Cancer is part of a select group of institutions participating in the TA2 arm of the program, focused on colon cancer. As a core member of the TA2 team, Inova will play a critical role in designing and executing evolutionary clinical trials alongside team lead MD Anderson Cancer Center and other leading cancer centers. The team will undertake a novel two-phase umbrella clinical trial for patients with colon cancer that quickly identifies and targets emergent resistant traits through integration of drug response biomarkers and resistance-targeting drugs. The ADAPT platform will include a wide range of molecular tests conducted across timepoints and treatment lines, enabling real-time data to guide individualized therapeutic decisions.

“This is perhaps the most ambitious collaborative effort of cancer treatment in the modern, precision medicine era,” said Tim Cannon, MD, Sheridan Director, Molecular Tumor Board and Co-Director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Program at Inova Schar Cancer. “This project has the potential to develop a new paradigm of personalized cancer care, driving better outcomes, lowering cost, and saving more lives.”

The first patients are expected to enroll in the trial within the next 12 months.

For more information about the ADAPT program, visit the full announcement at https://arpa-h.gov/news-and-events/arpa-h-pioneers-game-changing-cancer-care-designed-adapt-throughout-treatment.

About Inova

We are Inova, Northern Virginia and the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area’s leading nonprofit healthcare provider. With expertise and compassion, we partner with our patients to help them stay healthy. We treat illness, heal injury and look at a patient’s whole health to help them flourish. Through our expansive network of hospitals, primary and specialty care practices, emergency and urgent care centers, and outpatient services, Inova provides care for more than 1 million unique patients every year. Total patient visits exceed 4 million annually, demonstrating our ability to deliver the best clinical care and ensuring a seamless experience for all who rely on us for their healthcare needs.

Consistently ranked and recognized as a national healthcare leader in safety, quality and patient experience, Inova’s world-class care is made possible by the strength and breadth of our network, our 25,000 team members, our technology and our innovation. In 2025, Inova was named the Health System of the Year by Press Ganey, a national leader in healthcare experience, recognizing our excellence in patient care, team member engagement, and commitment to continuous improvement.

Inova is home to Northern Virginia’s only Level 1 Trauma Center and Level 4 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and provides high-quality healthcare to each person in every community we are privileged to serve – regardless of ability to pay – every day of their life. More information about Inova can be found at www.inova.org.