Dutch-based medical AI company Aidence has won an AI in Health and Care Award to support the NHS plans to reduce lung cancer mortality.
Aidence merited the award by showing that their AI-enabled image analysis application, Veye, can improve early lung cancer detection, and validate and accelerate the use of AI in healthcare.
The award comes from a £140 million fund reserved for AI solutions that can contribute to the NHS Long Term Plan. One of the goals is to improve lung cancer prognosis by detecting 75% of all cancers at an early stage (1 or 2) by 2028.
Aidence’s submission proved that its AI solutions can increase the speed and accuracy of early lung cancer detection. The company has demonstrated real-world ability to develop, certify and deploy AI-enabled clinical solutions at scale, including a track record of use at NHS Trusts. Aidence’s first application, Veye Chest, is analyses chest CT scans and is integrated into several NHS hospitals to detect, classify, and track the growth of potential lung cancers.
The award will fund the adoption of Veye Chest in three NHS lung cancer screening sites which will be announced shortly. The award also supports each site evaluating the efficiency and performance of the AI solution in clinical use, both in screening and routine practice. The expectation is that Veye will positively impact patient outcomes while contributing to cost reduction.
Jeroen van Duffelen, co-founder and chief operating officer, said: “We’re looking forward to working with the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC), the NHSX and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to validate and accelerate the use of AI in the fight against lung cancer. At Aidence, we know AI has tremendous value in clinical practice, and we believe AI-enabled oncology pathways can transform cancer care.”
Dr Lizzie Barclay, Aidence medical director and former NHS radiology registrar, added: “Being selected for the award is a vote of confidence in Aidence’s capability to develop and scale clinically useful AI medical solutions. We are grateful to the NHS and to the physicians and experts who wrote letters of support for our application.”
