Bristol Myers partners with Microsoft for AI-driven lung cancer detection

A Bristol Myers Squibb office.

Bristol Myers Squibb said on Tuesday it had signed an agreement with Microsoft to use the tech company’s AI-enabled radiology platform to help speed up early detection of lung cancer.

The collaboration will deploy U.S. Food and Drug Administration-cleared radiology AI algorithms through Microsoft’s Precision Imaging Network, which analyzes X-ray and CT images to help identify lung disease and is used by hospitals in the United States, the companies said.

Bristol Myers said the tools could help clinicians spot hard-to-detect lung nodules and identify some patients at earlier stages of disease.

The drugmaker said a key aim of the partnership is to expand access to early detection in medically underserved communities, including rural hospitals and community clinics across the United States.

“By combining Microsoft’s highly scalable radiology solutions with Bristol’s deep expertise in oncology and drug delivery, we have envisioned a unique AI-enabled workflow that helps clinicians quickly and accurately identify patients with non-small cell lung cancer and guide them to optimal care pathways and precision therapies,” said Alexandra Goncalves, vice president and head of digital health, Bristol Myers Squibb.

Pharmaceutical companies have increasingly turned to artificial intelligence to accelerate R&D, betting that new modeling tools and automated labs can improve efficiency across their pipelines.

Last week, AstraZeneca AZN.L said it agreed to buy Boston-based Modella AI to speed oncology drug research.

(Reporting by Sneha S K in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)