UK startup receives Austrian Government backing for AI cancer screening

A UK startup has received backing from the Austrian Government to open a new cancer research laboratory in the hope of more accurate cancer screening and roll out a new screening device.

Lancor Scientific will open the laboratory to push for 90% accuracy for screening with the use of artificial intelligence (AI). The company has already conducted trials with Southend University Hospital, improving upon an accuracy rate of 60-70% for cervical cancer screening tests by pathologists.

The research facility will roll-out Lancor Scientific’s Tumour Trace OMIS (Opto-magnetic Imaging Spectroscopy) device and the utilisation of AI technology, with the aim of delivering accurate, low-cost and near real-time cancer screening at scale.

Lancor Scientific has developed a device that is able to early detect cervical cancer at 90% accuracy, and can further screen for multiple types of cancers. The device detects the change of electromagnetism within tissue on quantum levels.

Aamir Butt, CEO of Lancor Scientific, said: “Finding cancer early is key to saving lives. Lancor Scientific has dedicated itself to making accurate and cost-effective cancer detection technology available globally. The vote of confidence from the Austrian government as well the partnership with experts at Graz Technical University allows us to continue that journey and provide a minimum of 10,000 devices within the next five years free of capital charge, with the capability of conducting 500,000 cancer tests per day. This is what we mean by making cancer screening available for everyone, everywhere.”

A new laboratory in Graz, Austria, will open in partnership with the Technical University of Graz, the Medical University of Graz and the Sigmund Freud University Vienna, to lead trials on cancer screening at a global level. Lancor Scientific will receive grants over the first five years from the Austrian Government for facilities including office, research equipment, access to academic expertise and clinical trials management.

The device will go to market in 2019 and a minimum of 10,000 devices will be produced in the next five years.

Friedrich Schmidl, life sciences director at the Austrian Business Agency said that the agency was glad to support on a governmental level Lancor Scientific's "innovative technology as quantum spectroscopy combined with artificial intelligence paired in one medical device.”

Schmidl said: "Lancor Scientific is a company with a clear vision to face the burden of cancer and provides a cutting-edge technological device for cancer screening.”