Israeli artificial intelligence-powered precision oncology platform for research and treatment decisions Nucleai announced today the closing of a $6.5 million Series A financing round led by Swiss-based biopharmaceutical company Debiopharm.
Nucleai's technology analyzes large and unique datasets of tissue images using computer vision and machine learning methods to model the spatial characteristics of both the tumor and the patient's immune system, creating unique signatures that are predictive of patient response.
The company will use the funds to further develop its advanced platform for use in Immuno-oncology and other diseases, and to expand its commercial reach to pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
Founded in Israel, a growing hotspot for computational biology innovation, Nucleai was founded by former members of an elite technological unit of Israeli intelligence corps specializing in artificial intelligence and big data: CEO Avi Veidman, COO Eliron Amir, and VP R&D Lotan Chorev. Its Tel Aviv hub positions the startup to leverage a wealth of valuable resources including a centralized medical system, 25 years of EMR data, and top AI talents.
Veidman said, "Nucleai has multiple revenue-generating, commercial partnerships, with leading Immunotherapies pharma companies and US-based payers. We plan to use these funds to expand our offering to additional indications and diseases as well as to increase our commercial footprint substantially."
"Our team is thrilled to embark on this adventure to develop and further understand the extent to which AI can help pathologists and oncologists become more precise in both diagnosis and prediction," explained Tanja Dowe, CEO of Debiopharm Innovation Fund. "We recognize the huge impact that Nucleai's AI-powered platform, could have on clinical research for pharmaceutical treatments."
Veidman added, "The battle between the tumor and the immune cells is clearly visible by inspecting the pathology slide, just like a satellite image of a battlefield. Our AI platform analyzes the hundreds of thousands of cells in a slide, examines the interplay between the tumor and the immune system and matches the right patient to the right drug based on these characteristics".
Amir said, "Our solution is purely based on software which is embedded into the biomarker researcher workflow. This allows us to scale our solution rapidly, to provide service to a large number of pharmaceutical and biotech partners as well as to patients. It is an elegant solution to a complex problem. There is no need for an expensive wet-lab biology operation. Our cloud-based solution allows us to gather huge amounts of immuno-oncology data from different sources, creating complex insights that a single pharma or institute cannot generate by itself."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on July 7, 2020
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