SBRI Healthcare, in partnership with the NHS Cancer Programme and the Accelerated Access Collaborative, has announced more than £9 million of funding for eight late-stage innovation projects that advance the earlier and faster diagnosis of cancer.
The innovations support the NHS Long Term Plan (LTP) ambitions for cancer; that by 2028, an extra 55,000 people will survive cancer for five years or more, and 75% of people will be diagnosed earlier, at stage one or two. This competition marks the beginning of an anticipated annual series of multi-million pound funding opportunities, in support of the LTP cancer ambitions.
The winning innovations address numerous cancers, enhancing efficiency, co-ordination, and communication throughout the diagnosis pathway. Utilising the latest technologies, and complementing existing processes, the innovations include digital, cloud-based, and mobile communication platforms, scanning and imaging diagnostic software, medical devices, and blood testing.
The funding competition, launched in March 2021, is the first of its kind, and attracted 51 applications from the open market. It called for late-stage solutions to the challenges of improving the early detection and diagnosis of cancer; and diagnostic efficiency for cancer services. All winning technologies have already proven their clinical effectiveness, and through this programme will be implemented either locally or nationally, to prove they can be rolled out.
The competition aims to accelerate these innovations into frontline clinical/healthcare settings. A second competition call is planned for the spring of 2022, continuing the series of multi-million pound funding calls, supporting the NHS Long Term Plan ambitions by fast-tracking high quality cancer innovations.
An overview of the competition winners:
Qure.ai Technologies Limited (awarded £3,221,710) – AI assisted Chest X-ray triage for improving diagnostic efficiency and early detection of lung cancer
The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust (awarded £610,774) – Whole body MRI for Inherited Cancer Early Diagnosis (ICED)
Open Medical (awarded £ 1,063,081) – Pathpoint Cancer Initiative – Scaling and evaluating interoperable cloud clinical pathway management solutions to optimise referral, triage and diagnostic workflows.
Endoscope-i (awarded £424,418) – Telescopic referrals to streamline and increase efficiency for managing the Head and Neck 2ww cancer pathway
Pinpoint Data Science (awarded £752,021) – Optimising NHS urgent cancer referral pathways with their AI-driven, affordable blood test for triage and prioritisation of symptomatic patients.
The Newcastle Upon Tyne HNFT (awarded £1,624,825) – Dissemination of the Newcastle MSI-PLUS assay for Lynch syndrome screening and therapeutic targeting.
Orion Medtech Ltd C.I.C (awarded £361,487) – Applying a cancer care toolkit for improving time from diagnosis to treatment by adapting existing digital technology and processes
The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust (awarded £1,237,838) – Liquid Biopsies for Faster Diagnosis of Pancreatic and Biliary Tract Cancers.
Prashant Warier, CEO and co-founder of Qure.Ai Technologies, said: “Lung cancer is the leading cause of death in the United Kingdom. Its aggressive nature and absence of early, visible signs often leads to diagnostic and treatment delays and poor outcomes. The five-year survival rates remain low at roughly 14%, with 30% of patients dying within 90 days after diagnosis. Identifying it at earlier stages impacts survival rates positively and allows for the ability to use less toxic treatment or intervention. However, this is difficult because of varying protocols and immense workloads. The use of AI technologies can help in early detection of potentially cancerous nodules from chest X-rays. It can also help in incidental finding of nodules earlier for asymptomatic patients. Early identification can lead to faster diagnosis through same-day CT scans.”
Details for the second open competition call can be found on SBRI’s competition webpage.
