The field of artificial intelligence (AI) is beginning to mature, but this is also becoming a competitive space, with several governmental entities declaring their intent to develop policies to maintain national competitiveness. The U.S. has now entered the fray with a request for information by the International Trade Administration seeking information on policies that might foster the export of AI products developed by U.S. companies, but also on the policies that might enable small and medium enterprises to remain competitive.
Viome Life Sciences Inc. launched its Cancerdetect test for oral and throat cancer, the first in a developing portfolio of tests that use mRNA technology and an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven platform. The saliva-based oral and throat cancer test demonstrated 95% specificity and 90% sensitivity in identifying these notoriously difficult to diagnose malignancies in a recent study.
Spintech MRI Inc. raised $6.5 million in series A financing to expand deployment of MRI software designed to improve and accelerate diagnosis and treatment of Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases. The FDA-cleared Strategically Acquired Gradient Echo (Stage) platform is currently in use at more than 50 U.S. hospitals and institutions, including the Yale School of Medicine for advanced research, analysis and treatment of Parkinson’s disease.
The U.S. FDA has cleared the first clinical grade watch for characterizing atrial fibrillation (afib), the most common type of heart arrhythmia in which the heart beats too slowly or irregularly. Developed by Verily, the health tech arm of Alphabet Inc., together with IRhythm Technologies Inc., the Zio Watch will leverage the ability of IRhythm’s Zeus system to diagnose cardiac arrhythmias by combining wearable biosensing with cloud-based data analytics and artificial intelligence.
Growing collaborations between pharma and technology companies in digital health are beginning to create a new ecosystem in Taiwan that it hopes will increase its value in the global supply chain, speakers said during the BIO Asia-Taiwan conference in Taipei, running July 27-31.
Exo Inc. acquired Medo Dx Pte, an artificial intelligence (AI) developer, to make its point-of-care ultrasound imaging even easier to use. Medo brings two FDA-cleared artificial intelligence algorithms that draw on a library of millions of ultrasound images and health data to expand the settings for ultrasound and the reduce the expertise required for its use. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Cleerly Inc. sees a bright future ahead after boosting its fundraising to date nearly five-fold with a $192 million series C. The new infusion brought the total invested in the company to $248 million, a solid endorsement of a company that hopes to transform cardiology with precision-based diagnostics that move away from indirect indicators to accurate measurements.
Volpara Health Technologies Ltd. joined forces with Microsoft Corp. to accelerate the research and development of software that uses mammograms to identify potential cardiovascular issues.
Megarobo Technologies Ltd. raised $300 million in its series C round financing to develop intelligence and automation solutions for life science companies. The financing was led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management LP, Asia Investment Capital Ltd., and GGV Capital.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) present regulators and payers alike with some interesting dilemmas, but that statement can be applied to patent offices and inventors as well. In this fifth installment in a series on AI in radiology, we’ll examine the hazards of acquiring and sustaining intellectual property protection for these algorithms, a much more complicated and complex undertaking than many developers might appreciate.
