Health experts are unanimous: artificial intelligence has revolutionized medical research like no other tool before it. Whereas the human brain can only manage 6 or 7 variables simultaneously, technological tools such as Machine Learning, Deep Learning and computer vision can collect, store and analyze billions of data in just a few seconds. The result is spectacular: artificial intelligence is becoming a technology capable of saving lives by anticipating future cardiovascular disorders and detecting certain cancers at an early stage.
Two companies stand out internationally in their respective fields: Idoven, the Spanish nugget that saved the life of former Real Madrid star Iker Casillas, who suffered a heart attack at the age of 38, and Screenpoint Medical, founded by two breast imaging experts, whose technology enables early detection of breast cancer. Their clinical research is based on a negative predictive value of 99.97%.
Present in the Vintage Altaroc Odyssey 2021, Spanish company Idoven is establishing itself as a key player in the early detection and precision medicine of cardiovascular diseases, known by doctors for their difficulty in being identified and diagnosed due to a lack of specific symptoms in the early stages of the disease.
After suffering a heart attack in 2019, at the age of 38, Real Madrid star Iker Casillas (who played for the team from 1999 to 2015) had to put an end to his career. A few weeks after his release from hospital, he decided to invest in Idoven and become its international ambassador.
"He was aware that technology had to help fight this disease, when one person dies every two seconds worldwide from cardiac arrest," explained Manuel Marina-Breysse, Idoven's founder, to AFP.
In concrete terms, the Spanish nugget was the first company in the world to develop AI software capable of assisting cardiologists in their diagnosis. Thanks to its cloud-based platform, artificial intelligence enables the doctor to analyze the data provided by electrocardiograms and predict potential risks of cardiac arrhythmia. Using a cloud-based solution, Idoven's software identifies 86 cardiac rhythm disorders, which account for 90% of the most common heart problems. In addition, the company continues to build its platform, which contains some of the world's largest databases of electrocardiograms to be analyzed by artificial intelligence, thanks to collaboration with 17 prestigious research institutes in Europe and the USA.
Supported by the manager Insight Partnersthe company is a perfect example of the support provided by a major player in Growth Equity. The company is currently experiencing hypergrowth, with revenues increasing 5-fold in less than 4 years, in a healthcare market estimated at over €10 billion a year worldwide. It has also signed preventive partnerships with a number of professional soccer clubs, giving both male and female players access to heart monitoring equipment. It also recently signed a partnership with the AstraZeneca laboratory to use artificial intelligence to optimize and accelerate diagnosis and monitoring of patients over 65 suffering from heart failure.
Idoven has received numerous awards for its technology in Europe and the United States, including the European Innovation Council's prestigious Accelerator and Horizon 2020 awards for its ability to save lives.
In addition to detecting cardiovascular disease, artificial intelligence is now playing a key role in the early diagnosis of certain cancers. Screenpoint Medical, a company based in the Netherlands and featured in Vintage Altaroc Odyssey 2021, has developed cutting-edge artificial intelligence to help detect breast cancer.
It collects data using Machine Learning and transcribes it into a format that radiologists can access and understand, reducing their workload and improving diagnostic performance.
ScreenPoint Medical was founded in 2014 by Nico Karssemeijer and Michael Brady, both experts in breast imaging, Machine Learning and computer-aided detection. Pioneers in their field, back in 2014 they surrounded themselves with a team of experts in breast imaging and artificial intelligence to develop a decision support algorithm. The team's ultimate goal is to facilitate early detection of breast cancer, to improve survival rates and treat patients as early as possible with less invasive methods. In short, to save lives.
Transpara breast AI, the tool developed by Screenpoint Medical, has been trained on a highly robust dataset: one million images and 15,000 visible cancers from 10 mammography models and 20 different centers. Cancer cases are then verified by biopsy, and negative examinations confirmed at follow-up. This AI has just exceeded 4 million mammograms (2D and 3D) thanks to its use with radiologists in over 30 countries.
To understand the results, Transpara Exam Score is an imaging-based risk determination tool that ranks exams on a 10-point scale and is used for simultaneous reading of mammograms. The higher the score, the greater the risk of cancer. Clinical research conducted with Transpara shows that scores between 1 and 7, i.e. low risk, on a scale of 1 to 10, have a negative predictive value of 99.97%.
ScreenPoint's scientific team is responsible for over 200 scientific publications in breast imaging and artificial intelligence.
The company is experiencing a significant increase in headcount, with 67 employees currently and annual recurring revenues reaching $13.6 million. AI solutions developed by Screenpoint are already in use in over 200 clinics in 23 countries.
Every year in France, over 50,000 breast cancers are diagnosed, and more than 4.4 million mammograms are performed.
