This study describes the development and validation of the SCOPE platform, a machine learning system that integrates patient-derived organoid (PDO) drug screening with clinical prognostic modeling. The platform was trained using data from n=15 mCRC and n=39 mPDAC cases, alongside 81 PDO lines from a biobank and 32 arms from 23 published trials for external validation. The primary outcomes assessed were median progression-free survival (mPFS) and objective response rate (ORR).
The integrated model, combining organoid and clinical data, significantly outperformed the clinical score module alone or the drug screen score module alone (P=0.001). Predictions for mPFS showed strong agreement with published outcomes, with an R2=0.85, MAE=0.82 months, and Pearson r=0.92 (P<0.001). ORR prediction also demonstrated robust performance with an R2=0.71 and MAE=7.3 percentage points. In head-to-head comparisons, the platform correctly identified the superior treatment arm in 7 of 8 comparisons (P<0.05).
Safety and tolerability data, including adverse events, serious adverse events, discontinuations, and specific tolerability metrics, were not reported as this was a preclinical platform development study. A key limitation is that PDOs have not been used to forecast population-level trial outcomes prior to this study. The study notes that predictions were externally validated against published trials, and prospective applicability for daraxonrasib is consistent with emerging clinical data.
The practice relevance of this work supports clinical trial design, treatment arm selection, and go/no-go decisions. However, the association between predicted and observed outcomes indicates that the platform predicts results without prior clinical data, rather than establishing causal efficacy. Clinicians should interpret these findings as validation of a predictive tool rather than evidence of direct patient benefit in current practice.
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Background: Predicting whether a treatment will demonstrate meaningful clinical benefit before committing to a large-scale trial remains a major unmet need in oncology. Patient-derived organoids (PDOs) recapitulate individual tumor drug sensitivity, but have not been used to forecast population-level trial outcomes. We developed SCOPE (Screening-to-Clinical Outcome Prediction Engine), a platform that integrates PDO drug screening with clinical prognostic modeling to predict arm-level median progression-free survival (mPFS) and objective response rate (ORR) without access to any trial outcome data. Patients and methods: SCOPE was trained on 54 treatment lines from patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC, n=15) and metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (mPDAC, n=39) with matched clinical data and PDO drug screening across 9 compounds. A Clinical Score module captures baseline prognosis; a Drug Screen Score module quantifies treatment-specific organoid sensitivity. To predict trial outcomes, synthetic patient profiles are generated from published eligibility criteria and matched to a biobank of 81 PDO lines. Predictions were externally validated against 32 arms from 23 published trials, treatment ranking was assessed across 8 head-to-head comparisons, and prospective applicability was tested for daraxonrasib (RMC-6236), a novel pan-RAS inhibitor in mPDAC. Results: Predicted mPFS strongly agreed with published outcomes (R2=0.85, MAE=0.82 months; Pearson r=0.92, P<0.001), approaching the empirical concordance between two independently measured clinical endpoints (ORR vs. mPFS, R2=0.87). ORR prediction was similarly robust (R2=0.71, MAE=7.3 percentage points). Integrating organoid and clinical data significantly outperformed either alone (P=0.001). SCOPE correctly identified the superior arm in 7 of 8 head-to-head comparisons (88%, P<0.05). Applied to daraxonrasib prior to phase 3 data availability, the platform predicted superiority over standard chemotherapy in KRAS-mutant mPDAC, consistent with emerging clinical data. Conclusion: By combining functional organoid drug screening with clinical modeling, SCOPE generates calibrated efficacy predictions for both established regimens and novel agents without prior clinical data. This approach could support clinical trial design, treatment arm selection, and go/no-go decisions, offering a new tool to improve the efficiency of gastrointestinal cancer drug development.