The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) and Blue Health Intelligence® (BHI) has announced the finalists of the BlueCross BlueShield Data Innovation Challenge developing solutions that increase access to care, enhance patient engagement, and improve care delivery and outcomes. The selected finalists will receive access to a limited HIPAA-compliant Blue Health Intelligence (BHI) dataset so they can test their hypotheses.5 BCBS Data Innovation Challenge FinalistsThe five finalists were
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Mayo Clinic Backs Imago Systems to “Re-Visualize” The Mammogram for Breast Cancer Detection
Mayo Clinic has signed a know-how license agreement with Imago Systems, a medical imaging company with an advanced machine learning software that is designed to dramatically improve a clinician’s ability to detect cancer and other abnormalities earlier and more accurately. Imago Pilot DetailsAs part of the know-how license agreement, a breast imaging research specialist at Mayo Clinic will spearhead Imago's pilot and pivotal studies to clinically validate Imago's visual intelligence software as
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Adventist Integrates CancerIQ Platform with Cerner EHR Systemwide to Get AHEAD of Cancer
Adventist Health is getting AHEAD of hereditary cancer (which tends to be earlier onset, more aggressive, and accounts for 10 percent of all new diagnoses). The Adventist Health Early All-Around Detection – or AHEAD Program – at Adventist Health is a population hereditary cancer risk assessment initiative.To ensure patients in both urban and rural settings have access to the preventive services needed to reduce risk, Adventist Health is partnering with CancerIQ to identify candidates for genetic
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RefleXion Medical Receives $60M Loan for Biology Guiding Radiotherapy Machine
RefleXion Medical, Inc., a biotargeting oncology company developing the first and only biology-guided radiotherapy (BgRT) machine* for targeted cancer treatment has received a $60M senior secured term loan from Oxford Finance LLC. The company plans to use the loan to support the completion of the FDA clearance process for its biology-guided BgRT system and its subsequent commercial launch.
Building from Positron
Emission Tomography
Positron emission tomography (PET) is an established
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Guardant Health to Acquire Cancer Diagnostic Company Bellwether Bio
Precision oncology company Guardant Health, Inc., announced that it
has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire
Seattle-based Bellwether Bio, an
oncology startup developing next generation cancer diagnostics using cell-free
DNA. The acquisition is expected to close in April 2019. Financial terms of the
acquisition were not disclosed.
Bellwether Bio Background
Spun out of the University of Washington in 2016, Bellwether
Bio (formerly known as Haverhill Genetics) is developing
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Proscia Raises $8M for AI-Enhanced Digital Pathology for Cancer Diagnosis
Proscia, a Philadelphia-based digital pathology platform has raised $8.3 million in Series A funding led by Boston-based Flybridge Capital Partners with participation from Emerald Development Managers, Fusion Fund, Razor’s Edge Ventures, and RobinHood Ventures.The startup plans to utilize the Series A funding to fuel the development and commercialization of new, clinical AI-enabled workflows targeting high-volume, high-impact cancers, the first of which will be available later this year. In
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Elsevier Acquires Clinical Decision Support Solution Via Oncology
Elsevier, the information analytics business specializing in science and health, and part of RELX Group, today announced that it has acquired Via Oncology, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based company that provides clinical decision support and best practices in cancer care management. A former subsidiary of UPMC, one of the nation's leading integrated healthcare delivery and financing systems, Via Oncology helps cancer centers demonstrate the value of their care to patients, referring physicians
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GRAIL Lands $900M for Early Cancer Detection
GRAIL, Inc., a life sciences company whose mission is to detect cancer early when it can be cured, today announced it has raised $900 million in Series B funding led by ARCH Venture Partners with participation from Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Amazon, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, McKesson Ventures, Merck (known as MSD outside the United States and Canada), Tencent Holdings Limited and Varian Medical Systems, Inc. GRAIL intends to close the remainder of the Series B investment prior to the
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Early Detection: The New Cancer Paradigm
Editor's Note: Amit Kumar, Ph.D, is an expert in cancer diagnostics with over 20 years of experience in cancer research. He is the Vice Chairman of ITUS Corporation and Executive Chairman of Anixa Diagnostics Corporation, which is developing a blood test (Cchek ™), for the early detection of tumor-based cancers. This article first appeared in The Journal of Antibody Drug Conjugates and has been republished with permission.
A seemingly healthy patient walks into the doctor’s office for a
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Guardant Health Nabs $100M for Biopsy-Free Cancer Genomic Testing
Guardant Health, a Redwood City, CA-based company revolutionizing cancer detection through biopsy-free tumor sequencing has raised $100M in Series D funding led by healthcare-investment firm OrbiMed. Existing Guardant Health investors Khosla Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Pejman Mar, Formation 8, Heritage Group, and others also participated in the funding round.
Founded in 2012 by a team of serial entrepreneurs with expertise in next-generation sequencing, single-cell
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