GE HealthCare has announced its role as the lead industrial partner in the COMPASS consortium, a five-year initiative under the European Union’s Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) designed to advance precision cardio-oncology care. With a total budget of €50.5 million and more than sixty participating organizations, COMPASS represents one of the largest public-private partnerships within the IHI framework.
The initiative addresses the growing burden of cardiovascular disease among cancer patients and survivors, where heart-related complications have become the second leading cause of death after cancer itself. This trend is driven by both pre-existing cardiovascular conditions and the cardiotoxic effects associated with widely used cancer therapies, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and targeted treatments. Despite recognition of these risks, clinical management remains limited due to gaps in biological understanding, insufficient biomarkers, and a lack of preventive strategies.
COMPASS aims to implement an integrated, patient-centered care pathway across Europe to support early intervention, safer cancer treatment continuation, and reduced cardiovascular complications. The program brings together multidisciplinary expertise spanning cardiology, oncology, molecular science, artificial intelligence, and data analytics.
“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.”
Key focus areas of the consortium include:
Identification of novel biomarkers through molecular imaging, advanced cardiac imaging, and multi-omics approaches
Development of AI-enabled predictive models and clinical decision support tools integrating real-world and wearable data
Enhancement of care delivery through integrated pathways and patient engagement initiatives
GE HealthCare will contribute to developing AI-powered, connected care pathways linking oncology and cardiology practices.
“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 Horizon Europe and supported by multiple European life sciences industry groups, with activities running through 2031.
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