SANTA CLARA, Calif. – While many of the presentations at the Precision Medicine World Conference revolved around clinical studies and their promise for future breakthroughs in health care, a continuous stream of companies made their pitches for translating these studies into actual products that can benefit patients now.

Unlike with other kinds of cancer, there’s no opportunity for a biopsy ahead of surgery for a suspected brain tumor. To help matters, researchers have developed a novel approach that combines a new, commercially available imaging technology – stimulated Raman histology (SRH) – with an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm to offer a diagnosis of brain tumors in just a couple of minutes. They published the results of a study in the Jan. 6, 2020, issue of Nature Medicine that determined their approach was noninferior to standard pathologist interpretation of histologic images.

Artificial intelligence (AI) health care startup Cardiologs Technologies SAS scooped up $15 million in a series A funding round led by Alven Capital Partners. The Paris-based company, which has an artificial intelligence-based platform to quickly diagnose cardiac arrhythmias, plans to use the money to grow its sales and marketing efforts across North America and Europe. The funds will also be used to advance the platform’s capabilities. Also participating in the financing were previous investors Bpifrance, Isai, Kurma Diagnostics, Idinvest Partners and Paris Saclay Seed Fund.

HONG KONG – South Korean-based med-tech Lunit Inc., of Seoul, has secured ₩30 billion (US$25.6 million) in series C funding. Founded in 2013, the Korean company has raised $50 million so far. Lunit’s corporate value was evaluated at as much as ₩200 billion as of the fundraising.

Researchers at the Riken Center for Advanced Intelligence Project in Japan developed artificial intelligence (AI) technology that found previously unknown features related to prostate cancer occurrence in unannotated pathology images.

Israeli startup Zebra Medical Vision Ltd. has partnered with Johnson & Johnson’s Depuy Synthes to develop artificial intelligence (AI)-based algorithms to reduce the costs and radiation risks associated with imaging to prepare for orthopedic surgery.

Drug diversion in hospitals is a serious concern, facilitated in part by inadequate security controls that allow unauthorized staff to access the pharmacy stock. To help thwart this problem and improve medication management, Taipei, Taiwan-based Cyberlink Corp. and Imedtac Co. Ltd. are teaming up to bring facial recognition technology to the hospital medicine cabinet.