NEWTON, Mass., Nov. 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 4D Path, a company conceived by an experienced team of scientists, clinicians and management from leading research institutions including MIT, Harvard Medical School and the University of Cambridge, has unveiled a faster, more efficient approach to cancer diagnosis and biomarker profiling with better accuracy that accelerates and democratizes precision medicine for optimized patient care and clinical trials. The company, which has raised $6.4 million in funding to date, applies its cloud-based, quantitative approach to finding the data previously hidden in an H&E biopsy image without adding extra load to the current standard of care. As a result, the initial biopsy will no longer be the first step in a lengthy process towards biomarker profiling and stratification, but perhaps the only step necessary without the need for additional molecular tests (e.g. immunohistochemistry, FISH, RNA-Seq, NGS).
Just from whole slide H&E biopsy/resection images, in seconds 4D Path can identify cancer type (in the pan cancer level), its prognostically significant subtypes, variants, grades, and molecular profile with overexpression status as well as benign lesions. Its accelerated and more accurate diagnostic tool is commercially available now for use in clinical trials to allow pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies to efficiently focus more precisely on effective treatments and targeted therapies.
“Delayed and sometimes inaccurate cancer diagnosis is due largely to subjectivity, experience, variability in sampling and mood bias. Ancillary tests, designed to extract molecular profiles of the tumor and direct the right and effective treatment are lengthy, expensive and sometimes not accessible to the broad population (like in remote location),” said Rodrigo Navarro, president and CEO, 4D Path. “By eliminating the need for acquiring additional data, 4D Path’s patented methods and integrated platform accelerate complete, actionable and proven clinical insights that are completely objective. For both companion diagnostics and translational medicine, 4D Path can reduce the cost, time and complexity of clinical trials and patient management.”
Professor Andrew Hanby, specialist consultant breast histopathologist, NHS, UK, whose practice relies entirely on whole slide images (WSI) reporting, states: “Pathologists are an essential part of the patient care pathway in offering a gold standard diagnosis to which patients’ treatment is tailored. Unlike current rival AI methodologies, 4D Path’s technology significantly augments and revolutionizes the goal of achieving high levels of accuracy in diagnostics. It promises to enhance both the quality and efficacy of the process, giving patients the assurance that their treatment pathway has a solid and safe foundation. The value of this technology also extends beyond the complexity of clinical diagnostics in offering a robust analytical tool in environments where histopathologists are often lacking, such as clinical trials and grass roots cancer research."
“4D Path applies statistical physics, cancer cell biology and mathematical principles to extract hidden dynamics encoded in a static tissue image to identify tumor-specific phenotypic and genotypic fingerprints. The patented algorithm relies on causation instead of merely statistical correlation to compute digital biomarkers and output the decisions. As a result, unlike emerging AI technologies, 4D Path’s platform does not involve any kind of training of the histopathology images to learn to recognize diagnostic entities, nor does it require any pre-annotation or any other human intervention (like selecting handcrafted features) to direct the algorithm to regions of interest,” said Tathagata Dasgupta, founder & CKO/CTO, 4D Path. “By using previously unseen data unveiled by the proven diagnostic platform, 4D Path is the first biomedical endeavor of its kind to transition from R&D to validation in real-life clinical settings.”
Founded in 2016 and previously in stealth mode, the company has achieved significant milestones including the approval of its first utility patent application earlier this year. The company operates a robust IT infrastructure and is expanding its platform compatibilities and ways to integrate it with existing PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System). It has also extended its ability to analyze H&E stained biopsy and resection images to cytology images with standard stains (H&E or Papanicolaou) and is digital slide scanner agnostic.
4D Path Boilerplate
Just because you cannot see something, does not mean it is not there. 4D Path’s patented precision oncology platform unveils previously hidden data to instantly provide biomarker profiling and stratification directly from H&E Whole Slide biopsy/resection images only. 4D Path’s cloud-based, quantitative approach eliminates the need for additional molecular tests (e.g., immunohistochemistry, FISH, RNA-Seq, NGS), accelerating complete, actionable and objective insight leading to expedited and democratized precision medicine for optimized patient care and clinical trials. Visit www.4dpath.com to learn more.