Pharma executives push for AI use in lung cancer detection

MANILA, Philippines — Executives from pharmaceutical and biotechnology company AstraZeneca are pushing for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for more accurate detection of lung cancer during its early stages.

The company co-hosted a media conference last July 26 in Healthway Cancer Care Hospital in Taguig, where it highlighted the use of the Qure.AI platform for lung cancer detection.

AstraZeneca's Vice President of International Oncology and Market Access Ti Hwei How shared data on lung cancer being the most common and leading cause of cancer death globally and in the Philippines, with 2.5 million cases annually and twice as many deaths as colorectal cancer.

The company's Country President Lotus Ramin also shared that lung cancer is the most common cancer type locally behind breast cancer, where 60% of patients are diagnosed late or in advanced stages, decreasing their five-year survival to 2.9%.

For How, early detection through screening may transform lung cancer from a fatal to a treatable condition. How cited that the availability of low-dose computer technology (LDCT) is a tool for early detection but it remains an issue. 

How said the integration of AI-enabled detection like Qure.AI via chest X-ray as a triage tool will increase the efficiency of screening via LDCT.

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Qure.AI's Chief Business Officer for Oncology Bharvar Reddy explained the information behind the AI platform and how it helps in detecting lung cancer.

The platform basically tries to detect subtle nodules that doctors may miss when checking X-rays. It was trained on 15 million computed tomography or CT scans for super human training to make results "generalizeable" across various settings.

According to data collected from 27 sites across seven countries, one lung cancer case is diagnosed for every 1,051 chest X-rays using Qure.AI, where intended users of the platform are radiologists, pulmonologists, and emergency room physicians.

Reddy noted that three out of five cases of lung cancer are missed in follow-ups, but Qure.AI has 83% sensibility in picking up nodules that are 6 to 10 millimeters in size.

He affirmed