To kick off 2024, the Mayo Clinic is intensifying its focus on artificial intelligence (AI) advancements.
On Tuesday, Aiforia and SimBioSys, both AI software developers, announced new collaborations with the renowned medical institution to leverage AI tools for improving cancer patient care.
The partnership with Aiforia revolves around an existing AI model co-developed by the Mayo Clinic and the Finnish company, with their AI initiatives dating back to 2020. This new collaboration aims to utilize AI technology to assess disease slides and data from colorectal cancer patients to predict cancer recurrence by analyzing more than 12 specific cellular characteristics.
By using AI to screen for colon cancer relapse and recommending chemotherapy treatments only to those who would benefit most, Aiforia anticipates reducing the costs associated with unnecessary chemotherapy drugs and mitigating potential side effects.
Under the terms of their agreement, the Mayo Clinic has granted permission for the global deployment of these technologies.
While the colon cancer recurrence model represents Aiforia’s first clinically relevant AI model developed in partnership with a client and brought to market, the company is actively engaged in co-developing additional AI models with the Mayo Clinic and other collaborators.
Meanwhile, SimBioSys is collaborating with the Mayo Clinic to develop innovative software tools aimed at enhancing early-stage breast cancer treatment.
Drawing on data from the BEAUTY trial—a decade-long clinical study initiated by the Mayo Clinic to explore genetic influences on breast cancer treatment—SimBioSys is leveraging AI to identify individual factors that can optimize treatment strategies, improve drug selection, and more accurately assess patients’ risk levels. Mayo Clinic experts will oversee the evaluation of the AI tools developed by SimBioSys.
Tushar Pandey, the co-founder and CEO of SimBioSys, highlighted the challenges of introducing new standards of care in genomics due to the competitive landscape. SimBioSys aims to enhance precision medicine practices by leveraging readily available datasets like imaging, collaborating closely with Mayo Clinic to deliver state-of-the-art solutions to patients.
