Press Release – For immediate release – 5:45 pm CET
Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) and Median Technologies reach a research collaboration agreement involving the iBiopsy® platform
- The collaboration agreement initially covers two joint clinical studies on liver cancer, involving coordinating investigators from two AP-HP hospitals -Pitié-Salpêtrière and Paul-Brousse-, and Median’s team.
- The agreement will enable Median to work with large patient cohorts for the clinical validation of iBiopsy®’s AI technologies.
Assistance Publique–Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), the Europe’s leading hospital and university center (CHU) and Median Technologies (ALMDT) today have signed a collaboration agreement aimed at carrying out studies that will be used for clinical validation of Median’s iBiopsy® platform. iBiopsy® features advanced AI technologies for diagnostic and prognostic imaging biomarker qualification. A large panel of clinical indications may be considered within the frame of the agreement. The collaboration initially covers two clinical studies whose protocols have already been approved. Similar terms and conditions may apply to subsequent clinical studies carried out jointly by AP-HP and Median Technologies. This strategic collaboration with AP-HP will help advance clinical research intended to improve patient diagnosis and monitoring.
The first study, PHELICAR, is led by Pr. Olivier Lucidarme and his team from the Pitié-Salpêtrière AP-HP hospital, in collaboration with teams from Beaujon and Paul-Brousse AP-HP hospitals. Using medical imaging, the study aims to identify the phenotypic heterogeneity of liver cancer and its impact on the diagnosis and prognosis of patients. The study will use retrospective data from a large patient cohort. The second study, LIVER IBIOPSY, is led by Pr. Maité Lewin and her team from Paul Brousse AP-HP hospital in collaboration with other teams from Paul Brousse and Bicêtre AP-HP hospitals. The study will use retrospective data from a smaller and more targeted patient cohort to identify phenotypes of high-risk liver tumor recurrence, in order to improve the treatment and follow-up of these high-risk patients.
Liver cancer is the fourth leading cause of death by cancer worldwide[1], with a 5-year survival rate of 18%. Therapeutic strategies are difficult to implement for this type of cancer, mostly because liver tumors are highly heterogeneous. These two studies will address unmet medical needs in terms of early diagnosis, patient prognosis and dynamic monitoring of patients’ response to treatments. They will also aim clinical validation of iBiopsy® as an innovative, reliable and non-invasive technology for phenotyping liver lesions. Both studies are part of the ongoing rise of predictive and personalized medicine.
For Median, the clinical expertise provided by the AP-HP hospitals involved in the two studies, as well as the large volume of data that will be made available to the company, will help optimize the AI algorithms developed within iBiopsy ® and, therefore, validate clinically the iBiopsy® platform on large cohorts.
“We are delighted with this agreement between Median and AP-HP. With its 39 hospitals and 10 million patients a year, AP-HP is one of the largest health institutions in Europe and has gained world recognition for the quality of its care, research and medical training. AP-HP is also one of the world’s largest providers of high-quality medical data. This major collaboration, aimed to clinically validate our proprietary iBiopsy® platform, makes good on our commitment to launch various clinical partnerships and collaborations in 2020. Our framework agreement with AP-HP opens up many prospects for future studies, including on other pathologies,” said Fredrik Brag, Median’s co-founder and CEO.
“The possibilities offered by Median Technologies to best uncover the full potential of data embedded in CT-Scan images provided by the different departments of AP-HP, -those of La Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paul Brousse and Beaujon- with a focus on liver disease, should lead us to new and better understanding of data hidden in medical images. Combined with already existing partnerships we have with university research laboratories, this type of collaboration will enable us to advance research, specifically within the growing field at the nexus of Artificial Intelligence and medical imaging. As a company, Median is at the forefront of scientific analysis of medical images. We are eager to see the first results of this collaboration”, said Pr. Olivier Lucidarme, Head of the Multipurpose Radiology and Oncology Department at the Pitié-Salpêtrière AP-HP Hospital.
[1] 2018 GLOBOCAN study – IARC/WHO http://gco.iarc.fr/
Europe’s leading hospital and university center (CHU), the AP-HP and its 39 hospitals are organized into six university hospital groups (AP-HP. Centre – University of Paris; AP-HP. Sorbonne University; AP-HP. Nord – University of Paris; AP-HP. University of Paris Saclay; AP-HP. Henri Mondor and AP-HP University Hospitals. University Hospitals Paris Seine-Saint-Denis) and is structured around five Paris universities. Closely linked to major research organizations, AP-HP has three world-class university hospital institutes (ICM, ICAN, IMAGINE) and the largest French health data warehouse (EDS). A major player in applied research and health innovation, the AP-HP holds a portfolio of 650 active patents, its clinician researchers sign nearly 9,000 scientific publications each year and more than 4,000 research projects are currently under development, all sponsors combined. In 2015, the AP-HP also created the AP-HP Research Foundation to support biomedical and health research conducted in all its hospitals.