Lunit and Roche, both medical diagnostics manufacturing companies, have announced a partnership to integrate Lunit’s SCOPE PD-L1 AI diagnosis tool with Roche’s Digital Pathology platform. The partnership aims to assist in the measure of PD-L1 tumour proportion score (TPS) in cancer patients, which can then be used to determine if the patient is a candidate for immunotherapy medications. This addition to Roche’s Digital Pathology is part of an expansion to the service, which includes 20 AI-assisted algorithms from eight different partners.
PD-L1 is a measurement of protein expression found in tumours, which is related to suppressing the body’s immune response to the tumour. This protein is measured via a method known as immunohistochemical staining (IHC), which requires a physician to analyze the sample for the TPS score of the tumor. This determines the course of treatment for patients, which involves immunotherapy medications to treat the tumor. However, the lack of consensus among physicians on how to score tumour samples has posed a major problem for doctors, as treatment options are dependent on the scoring system. The collaboration between Roche and Lunit could streamline this process, and ensure scoring is more accurate.
The current market for these kinds of AI algorithms is still emerging. Currently, GlobalData’s pipeline product database is tracking two additional diagnostic tools at various stages of development for the measurement of PD-L1 in several different tumour types. Lunit’s SCOPE PD-L1 is the first of these diagnostic tools to reach the market, and the partnership with Roche is likely to increase the number of use cases for the tool.
This AI-assisted algorithm could be an incredibly useful tool for the diagnosis and treatment of PD-L1-positive tumours. Current methods suffer from a lack of standardisation during interpretation, which could lead to a patient not receiving treatment when they could benefit from it. Lunit’s SCOPE aims to assist in the detection of PD-L1-positive tumours and ensure that patients receive the best possible care for their disease. By partnering with Roche, Lunit has also ensured that its algorithm is available to many physicians, who will hopefully utilise the tool to improve patient outcomes.
