Guerbet and IBM Watson Health Announce a Second Co-Development Project as Part of their Strategic Partnership for Leveraging Artificial Intelligence in Medical Imaging

IBMGuerbet, a global specialist in contrast agents and solutions for diagnostic and interventional medical imaging, announced that it has signed a new agreement with IBM Watson Health to co-develop and co-commercialize an artificial intelligence (AI) solution to help clinicians diagnose and monitor patients with prostate cancer. This agreement follows the first agreement signed in July 2018 between the two companies with the aim of using an artificial intelligence program to help clinicians diagnose and monitor patients with liver cancer.

Under this second program, Guerbet and IBM will work to develop a tool using artificial intelligence with the goal of helping to detect, segment, characterize and monitor lesions over time. This AI approach may allow for faster and more informed diagnosis of prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in men (13.5% of male cancer diagnoses worldwide according to the WHO).(1) The number of prostate MRIs is currently increasing by more than 10% per year, and a 2017 Lancet clinical study(2) has shown that 27% of biopsies may be avoided and 18% of unseen cancers detected by using multiparameter MRI.

"The main diagnostic challenge with prostate cancer lies in identifying cancers requiring rapid treatment and those requiring only active surveillance, while avoiding unnecessary biopsies,"(3) said David Gruen, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Imaging, IBM Watson Health. "For this reason, optimal patient outcomes depend on the rapid and accurate diagnosis and treatments that AI technologies can potentially help provide."

"The aging of our population has made prostate cancer a global public health problem. Some prostate cancers warrant active therapeutic management while others require only regular monitoring. Augmented intelligence can help enable doctors to diagnose these different cases more rapidly and more accurately, thus helping to potentially reduce the number of unnecessary biopsies and allowing them to propose the most appropriate therapeutic strategy for each patient. We look forward to strengthening our collaboration with IBM Watson Health to expand our portfolio of innovative diagnostic and surveillance solutions in oncology," said Yves L'Epine, CEO of Guerbet.

The AI solution for prostate will be designed for compatibility with most PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System) visualization systems, which will make its direct integration into the workflows of healthcare professionals that much easier.

"We are excited to further strengthen our partnership with Guerbet that has already been active in liver cancer," said Anne Le Grand, General Manager, Imaging, Life Sciences and Oncology, IBM Watson Health. "This AI solution for prostate will be one in a range of decision support solutions using Watson image analysis, that may potentially help radiologists and oncologists to diagnose conditions and make clinical decisions with patients."

"With IBM Watson Health, we will be leveraging progress made under the initial liver collaboration for the purposes of this second project dedicated to prostate cancer, with the same aim of delivering augmented intelligence to help radiologists and oncologists. This partnership is in line with Guerbet's commitment to developing ambitious medical solutions to speed up diagnosis, improve the patient experience, and reduce clinical risks and costs," said François Nicolas, Chief Digital Officer for Guerbet.

About Guerbet

Guerbet is a pioneer in the contrast-agent field, with more than 90 years' experience, and is a leader in medical imaging worldwide. It offers a comprehensive range of pharmaceutical products, medical devices and services for diagnostic and interventional imaging, to improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients. With 8% of revenue dedicated to R&D and more than 200 employees distributed amongst its centers in France, Israel and the United States, Guerbet is a substantial investor in research and innovation. Guerbet (GBT) is listed on Euronext Paris (segment B – mid caps) and generated €790 million in revenue in 2018.

About IBM Watson Health

Watson Health is a business unit of IBM that is dedicated to the development and implementation of AI and data-driven technologies to advance health. Watson Health technologies are tackling a wide range of the world's biggest healthcare challenges including cancer, diabetes, drug discovery and more.

1. "Latest global cancer data: Cancer burden rises to 18.1 million new cases and 9.6 million cancer deaths in 2018;" Press Release; The World Health Organization; 12 September 2018
2. (Diagnostic accuracy of multi-parametric MRI and TRUS biopsy in prostate cancer (PROMIS): a paired validating confirmatory study. Vol. 389, Issue 10071, pp 815-822, February 25, 2017)
3. Active surveillance for prostate cancer: patient selection and management; L. Klotz; Curr Oncol. 2010 Sep; 17(Suppl 2): S11-S17.

Most Popular Now

AI also Assesses Dutch Mammograms Better…

AI is detecting tumors more often and earlier in the Dutch breast cancer screening program. Those tumors can then be treated at an earlier stage. This has been demonstrated by...

AI could Help Emergency Rooms Predict Ad…

Artificial intelligence (AI) can help emergency department (ED) teams better anticipate which patients will need hospital admission, hours earlier than is currently possible, according to a multi-hospital study by the...

RSNA AI Challenge Models can Independent…

Algorithms submitted for an AI Challenge hosted by the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) have shown excellent performance for detecting breast cancers on mammography images, increasing screening sensitivity while...

Head-to-Head Against AI, Pharmacy Studen…

Students pursuing a Doctor of Pharmacy degree routinely take - and pass - rigorous exams to prove competency in several areas. Can ChatGPT accurately answer the same questions? A new...

NHS Active 10 Walking Tracker Users are …

Users of the NHS Active 10 app, designed to encourage people to become more active, immediately increased their amount of brisk and non-brisk walking upon using the app, according to...

Brain Imaging may Identify Patients Like…

By understanding differences in how people’s brains are wired, clinicians may be able to predict who would benefit from a self-guided anxiety care app, according to a new analysis from...

New AI Tool Illuminates "Dark Side…

Proteins sustain life as we know it, serving many important structural and functional roles throughout the body. But these large molecules have cast a long shadow over a smaller subclass...

Deep Learning-Based Model Enables Fast a…

Stroke is the second leading cause of death globally. Ischemic stroke, strongly linked to atherosclerotic plaques, requires accurate plaque and vessel wall segmentation and quantification for definitive diagnosis. However, conventional...

The Human Touch of Doctors will Still be…

AI-based medicine will revolutionise care including for Alzheimer’s and diabetes, predicts a technology expert, but it must be accessible to all patients. Healing with Artificial Intelligence, written by technology expert Daniele...

Stepping for Digital Rewards

Walking is well known to have significant health benefits, but few people achieve the daily recommended steps. Fortunately, mobile health (mHealth) applications have emerged as promising tools to promote physical...

Unlocking the 10 Year Health Plan

The government's plan for the NHS is a huge document. Jane Stephenson, chief executive of SPARK TSL, argues the key to unlocking its digital ambitions is to consider what it...

How AI could Speed the Development of RN…

Using artificial intelligence (AI), MIT researchers have come up with a new way to design nanoparticles that can more efficiently deliver RNA vaccines and other types of RNA therapies. After training...