Dutch artificial intelligence firm Quantib has scored a more than $2.3 million (USD) grant, which it plans to spend on accelerating the development of a new prostate cancer solution.
The money comes by way of the European Innovation Council Accelerator and balloons the Rotterdam, Netherlands, company’s fundraising total to almost $13.5 million, officials said Tuesday.
Quantib earned clearance from the Food and Drug Administration last year for an AI solution that helps radiologists read MRI brain scans. Now they’re eyeing another that would bolster prostate cancer diagnosis while reducing practice costs.
CEO Arthur Post Uiterweer on Tuesday called the new grant money a “major vote of confidence,” and labeled their in-the-works product “first of its kind.”
“…With this new funding, we will not only be able to develop another effective solution, we will also be well en route to becoming the market leader in addressing a major form of cancer,” he said in a statement.
On that front, Quantib noted that such prostate disease represents 1 in 4 of all cancer cases, but accuracy, speed and invasiveness remain obstacles to diagnosis and treatment. A spokesman told Radiology Business that preliminary data on its algorithm has found that it reduced reporting time “significantly.” They plan to seek clearance from the U.S. FDA, but he could not comment on the status of that process Tuesday.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.