EIT Health-backed Optellum partners with J&J in lung cancer project

Optellum an Oxford-based, EIT Health-supported lung health technology company, has announced a strategic collaboration with the Lung Cancer Initiative (LCI) at Johnson & Johnson (J&J).

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the UK, accounting for 21% of all cancer deaths in any one year. When diagnosed at its earliest stage, almost 57% of people with lung cancer will survive their disease for five years or more, compared with only 3% when the disease is diagnosed at the latest stage. Helping to diagnose lung cancer earlier could make a significant difference to patients’ lives.

Optellum has developed an AI-powered clinical decision support software, Virtual Nodule Clinic, which provides a clinically-validated Lung Cancer Prediction (LCP) score. The score gives clinicians vital support in identifying and tracking at-risk patients who present suspicious lung nodules which may or may not be cancerous. This enables early intervention and gives doctors a huge opportunity to get patients treated before secondary malignant growths develop – crucially increasing lung cancer survival rates. The technology was developed as part of the EIT Health LUCINDA project, and subsequently launched onto the market in 2021.

The Johnson & Johnson LCI has a unique precision medicine portfolio that includes diagnostics, therapeutic devices, and drugs as well as a dedicated team of scientific experts focused on prevention, interception, and cure of lung disease. With this partnership, Optellum aims to redefine the early intervention of lung cancer by enabling every patient to be diagnosed and treated at the earliest possible stage.

“This collaboration is a significant milestone for Optellum,” commented Václav Potěšil, PhD, founder and CEO of Optellum. “It brings us one step closer to Optellum’s vision of redefining early lung cancer treatment by helping every clinician, in every hospital to make the right decisions and provide their patients the best chance to fight back.”

Professor Sam Janes, MD, Head of the Respiratory Research Department at UCL Hospitals, Vice-Chair of the UK National Clinical Reference Group for Lung Cancer and member of the Optellum Medical Advisory Board, commented:

“I believe the next step in lung cancer diagnosis and treatment is seeing the emerging new technologies coming together. AI is key to enabling integration of imaging, clinical, and molecular data—such as liquid biopsies—in order to diagnose disease even earlier. This convergence of technologies has tremendous potential to help physicians prevent, intercept, and ultimately cure patients with early-stage lung cancer.

This article was first published on August 20 by EIT Health.