Cancer in the time of artificial intelligence (2nd part)
Cancer and AI startups/tools
This newsletter is an overview of AI Startups/Tools dedicated to cancer research.
For the first part (🆓) of this newsletter: 👉 Cancer in the time of artificial intelligence.
Cancer Diagnosis: Digital Pathology and Medical Imaging 🔬🩻
⚙️ PhenomicAI (Canada, 2017) is using advanced ML tools for processing imaging, RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics data to understand the biology of single-cells sitting in complex multi-cell systems. This allows them to explore how cells communicate with each other, both in human tissue samples and disease relevant experimental models. For example, they can understand how cancer cells hijack fibroblasts, a key cell-type of the tumor stroma, or how hijacked fibroblasts then shut down T-cells that are usually programmed to attack the cancer cells, and in the end understand in which drug targets one should invest time and money on. Just this month, Phenomic and Boehringer Ingelheim announced a 500M collaboration to utilize Phenomic’s single-cell RNA computing platform, dubbed scTx, to unlock new targets. Phenomic AI has raised a total of $11.4M.
⚙️ Auris Health engages in the development of robotics technology for medical applications with the MONARCH™ Platform and was acquired in 2019 by Ethicon, part of the Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies. The Monarch Platform, is an endoscopic technology that promises to fight lung cancer by enabling physicians to diagnose hard-to-reach, small peripheral nodules earlier and with greater precision than ever before. The robotic system comprises a Monarch tower, cart, physical controller, and an intuitive physical and digital User Interface that combines traditional endoscopic views with computer-assisted navigation based on 3D models of the patient’s own lung anatomy. The Monarch Platform is an AI system that navigates with 3D models of the patient's lungs and then uploads each case to a cloud. Auris Health has raised a total of $733.3M.
⚙️ Israeli startup Nucleai has a new partnership with the US-based contract research organization Sirona DX to further develop its AI-driven discovery of novel spatial biomarkers (indicators of recurrence, response to treatment or prognosis in solid tumors). This collaboration combines Nucleai’s powerful AI spatial analytics platform with Sirona Dx’s expertise to uncover novel spatial signatures that infer therapy response to therapy and direct treatment decisions. Nucleai raised a total of $44.5M.
⚙️ Coreline Soft, an AI software developer to analyze CT scans of the chest based in South Korea, has just received FDA and Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) clearance for its lung cancer detection software. The company claims that the software has achieved a sensitivity of 92.3% and a specificity of 80.4% in clinical trials.
⚙️ Brainomix—specializing in the creation of AI-powered imaging biomarkers to enable precision medicine for better treatment decisions—is offering Cancer solution that has been trained to characterize and quantify solid-tumors using thousands of cases from leading academic institutions, unlocking objective measurements of tumor lengths and other biomarkers such as tumor volume. The AI-powered biomarkers from Brainomix's Cancer solution are available now for use in clinical trials and can support:
Efficacy detection as an adjunct to traditional human-derived measures such as RECIST (a methodology to evaluate the activity and efficacy of new cancer therapeutics in solid tumors),
Blinded Independent Central Review (BICR) with AI-powered objectivity and standardization,
Objective assessment and comparison of early-stage treatments, and
Reduced sample sizes and faster trial execution.
Cancer Drug Discovery and Development 🧪🧫⚗️
⚙️ The high-tech molecule modeler company Schrödinger it has secured an FDA green light to study its computer-designed therapy for non-Hodgkin lymphomas in an early-phase trial with SGR-1505, a potential drug to block MALT1 (the Mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma translocation protein 1 or paracaspase) a crucial protein for T and B lymphocytes activation. In order to select SGR-1505, the company’s ML platform sorted through 8.2 billion potential compounds over a period of 10 months, identifying initially 78 compounds that went through preclinical experiments and finally they selected the most promising candidate SGR-1505. Schrodinger has raised a total funding of $162M.
🚨 Schrödinger—together with Roivant Sciences, Exscientia, Absci Corporation and e-therapeutics—is a top 5 AI & Digital Biotech.