AstraZeneca, as part of Lung Ambition Alliance, is working to eliminate lung cancer as a leading cause of death. High mortality in Lung Cancer is attributed to late stage diagnosis, and earlier stage diagnosis can improve overall survival rates. Detecting lung cancer early means identifying it when it is still localized in the lung as a malignant nodules. Chest X-rays are one of the most commonly administered diagnostic tests in the world and can be used to opportunistically screen for malignant nodules. Artificial Intelligence, such as one created by Qure.ai and scaled by AstraZeneca, may be particularly good in performing this task without introducing additional burden on radiologists. Qure’s AI algorithm detects nodules that it suspects have a high risk of being malignant for further investigation, with the ultimate aim of facilitating the early identification of lung cancer and enabling timely intervention. This has the potential to reduce treatment costs and enhance the resilience of healthcare systems. The solution can also be expanded to cover other disease areas and AstraZeneca is evaluating applying this AI to other disease areas.

Organizations involved: AstraZeneca, Qure.ai

Regional presence: Multiple countries in Latin America, Middle East, Africa, and Asia