RadNet, a provider of fixed-site outpatient diagnostic imaging services has acquired Aidence, a radiology AI company focussing on AI-enabled clinical solutions for pulmonary nodule management in routine practice and lung cancer screening.
Founded in 2015 and based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Aidence is developing and deploying AI clinical applications to empower radiologists and other physicians in interpreting medical images and improving patient outcomes. Aidence’s first commercialised product, Veye Lung Nodules, is an AI-based solution for lung nodule detection classification, quantification, and growth assessment. This product is CE marked.
Aidence’s solution analyses thousands of CT scans each week, with customers in seven European countries including France, the Netherlands, and the UK. In 2020, Aidence received an AI Award to help the NHS improve lung cancer prognosis, and it’s playing a leading role in large-scale deployments of regional lung cancer screening programmes due to the attractiveness of its solutions.
Aidence’s solution was submitted in December for FDA 510(k) clearance. Upon successful clearance, Veye Lung Nodules will be available for use in the United States. Aidence will join RadNet’s AI division, formed after RadNet’s earlier acquisition of DeepHealth, which to date has focused solely on breast cancer screening and detection. The acquisition of Aidence will further enable RadNet’s leadership in the development and deployment of AI to improve the care and health of patients.
Dr Howard Berger, chairman and chief executive officer of RadNet, said: “We remain convinced that artificial intelligence will have a transforming impact on diagnostic imaging and the field of radiology. We are very pleased to expand our portfolio of AI software into another cancer screening domain. Upon this acquisition, we will have effective screening solutions for two of the top four most prevalent cancers. We believe that large population health screening will play an important role for health insurers, health systems and large employer groups in the near future. As the largest owner of diagnostic imaging centres in the United States, RadNet has relationships that can serve to make large-scale screening programs, similar to what mammography is for breast cancer screening, a reality.”
Mark-Jan Harte, co-founder and CEO of Aidence added: "The Aidence team, my co-founder, Jeroen, and I are all enthusiastic about joining forces with the RadNet experts. RadNet is a strong leader in medical imaging. Together, we will accelerate our growth and innovation pipeline to serve clinicians with automated and integrated AI solutions for the oncology pathway.
“Our vision as Aidence is that data is key to improving the prevention, management, and treatment of disease. As a result of an operation of 350 facilities in some of the busiest US markets and performing over eight million exams per year, RadNet's database of images and radiologist reports is one of the largest and most diverse we've identified so far.
“I see unprecedented opportunities to further scale adoption, leveraging RadNet's capabilities. I cannot think of a better-positioned company to accelerate our development of products and services that can drastically improve medical diagnostics and give many cancer patients a fighting chance."
