MCC Health Awarded $400,000 Grant to Develop Digital Symptom Monitoring Tool for CAR-T Cell Therapy Patients

MyCareCompass is an automated oncology patient education platform. It deploys health literacy-friendly, animated videos, emails, and text messages to patients before and after key appointments, timed to each patient’s treatment schedule. It integrates wit

WAYPOINT will help patients track and manage side effects from home during the critical 60 days after treatment, with real-time alerts to their care team

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, October 19, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- MCC Health, Inc., developer of the MyCareCompass patient education platform, has been awarded a $400,000 competitive grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under Phase I of the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program to develop WAYPOINT, a digital intervention that helps patients monitor and manage symptoms after chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy. The program is a collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital co-principal investigator Anna Barata, PhD, who will lead the clinical research.

“We're thrilled to partner with Dr. Barata on this grant to address a critical unmet need in CAR-T therapy, one of oncology's most transformative advances,” said Daniella Landau, founder and CEO of MCC Health, Inc.

CAR-T has changed what is possible for people with blood cancers. In the pivotal ZUMA-1 trial, which led to the first FDA approval of a CAR-T therapy for lymphoma, more than 40% of patients with refractory large B-cell lymphoma were alive five years after infusion. Before CAR-T, that disease carried a median survival of about six months.

Recovery is another matter. Research led by Mass General Brigham investigators found that half of patients report severe physical symptoms in the first week after treatment and four in 10 are back in the hospital within 90 days. After discharge, patients and caregivers are expected to monitor those side effects on their own. While patients and caregivers receive education and discharge instructions before leaving the hospital, many report feeling insufficiently prepared to recognize and manage potential side effects at home.

Electronic symptom monitoring has already proven effective for patients undergoing treatment for solid tumors, where a randomized trial linked it to lower symptom burden, better quality of life, and fewer hospital visits, and a follow-up analysis found patients lived longer. No such system exists for CAR-T recipients, and WAYPOINT is designed to close that gap. Its foundation is a software platform that prompts patients to report symptoms regularly and alerts their care team when timely intervention is needed. Patients are provided original content, developed with clinical guidance from Dr. Barata, covering CAR-T education, psychosocial support, and timely symptom management information.

“The NCI grant programs are highly competitive, and this award provides validation of our innovative approach and the clinical need for digital patient intervention and self-monitoring,” said Landau. “The number of indicated cases is expected to grow significantly in the coming years with expanded approval of CAR-T therapy in solid tumors.”

For patients, WAYPOINT means earlier side-effect detection, fewer readmissions, and a reduced burden on caregivers. For MCC Health, it marks the move from preparing patients for treatment to supporting them through recovery at home.

Under the two-year Phase I grant, MCC Health and Dr. Barata will refine WAYPOINT with CAR-T recipients and the clinicians who treat them, then evaluate usability and acceptance. Phase II will bring WAYPOINT to patients nationwide and measure its effect on symptom burden, quality of life, and outcomes.

Cancer care is increasingly moving beyond the hospital, and MyCareCompass was built to support the gap between point of care and self-care. For most patients, education still arrives as a pamphlet or handout at discharge. MCC Health was founded on a different premise—information timed and tailored to each patient as an embedded component of treatment.

Cancer centers, health systems, and life sciences partners interested in collaborating can contact Daniella Landau at dlandau@arches.health or visit https://mycarecompasshealth.com/ for more information.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is WAYPOINT?
WAYPOINT is a digital intervention that helps patients monitor and manage symptoms at home during the first 90 days after CAR-T cell therapy. It pairs original education and psychosocial content, created by MCC Health with clinical guidance from Massachusetts General Hospital, with a simple way for patients to report how they are feeling, and alerts the care team when a symptom needs attention.

When will WAYPOINT be available?
WAYPOINT is being developed and tested under a two-year Phase I study at Massachusetts General Hospital to establish feasibility and acceptability, with the study running through the end of August 2028. Phase II will focus on bringing WAYPOINT to market and measuring its effect on patient outcomes. WAYPOINT is not yet commercially available.

Daniella Landau
MCC Health, Inc.
daniella.landau@arches.health
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