Nine Israeli healthcare, medtech, and biotech startups have been selected for the PlayBeyondBio initiative, spearheaded by the venture capital fund JVP, British-Swedish pharma giant AstraZeneca, international consulting firm Accenture, Margalit Startup City, Amazon AWS, and the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.
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The chosen few were revealed this week at a special event at the Margalit Startup City Center for Excellence in Jerusalem.
The selection process focused on companies that develop tools capable of predicting and pre-diagnosing illnesses. Particular focus was given to startups whose platforms focus on cancer, heart and kidney diseases, and respiratory illnesses.
As part of the six-month program, the selected startups will be put on a fast-track path centering around pilot development, validation projects, and investments from the program's partners, including a package that covers mentoring on medical, regulation and go to market models. The will also be offered business guidance and consulting sessions with experts.
"The world has changed, the world health system has changed, and today it faces new, great challenges," said founder and chairman of JVP and Margalit Startup City Erel Margalit.
"This requires significant technological developments and Israel is a major player in this great evolving story. The nine companies selected, come with technological innovations in various stages of development: some already mature and operating in global markets. Together with our partners – Astraznica, Accenture, AWS and Shaare Zedek Medical Center, – we will help these companies move on to the next stage on the way to becoming a larger and more significant," Margalit said.
The lucky nine:
C2i Genomics: The company provides personalized technology for cancer monitoring based on standard blood tests using a method based on whole-genome sequencing (WGS), generation of personalized genomic characteristics, and artificial intelligence and advanced algorithms, enabling early detection of disease recurrence. The diagnostic service is provided to research institutes and laboratories worldwide via a cloud-based platform, providing reduction of cancer treatment costs and enabling rapid development of drugs.
Nucleai: The company has developed an AI-powered image analysis platform to unlock the power of spatial biology from pathology images. Nucleai's platform, built and trained off large-scale proprietary datasets, leverages computer vision and deep neural networks to structure and characterize tissue and cell architecture in pathology images to identify spatial characteristics that predict response to therapy and inform treatment decisions.
Itamar Medical: A medical technology company focused on the development, manufacturing and commercialization of non-invasive medical devices and solutions to aid in the diagnosis of Sleep Breathing Disorders and early detection of exacerbation in COPD patients. The FDA-cleared Loop system is a multi-vital sign wearable wristband and real time analytics, designed for remote monitoring of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), allowing the detection of early signs of exacerbation before symptoms are noticeable.
Medial Earlysign: A leader in clinical AI. The company develops and tailors algorithms using its machine learning framework.
iBex: The company focuses on AI-based cancer diagnostics in pathology, using artificial intelligence to develop clinical-grade algorithms and workflows that identify cancer as accurately as a human pathologist. The company's Galen platform is the first-ever AI-powered solution used in routine clinical practice in pathology.
Octopus.health: The company offers a personal healthcare assistant platform targeted to chronic/complex patients. Octopus.health's platform allows behavioral analysis of patients' adherence to treatment plans and uses AI and machine learning capabilities to predict patient compliance with treatment plans.
Imagene: The company provides an Al-based genomic testing solution to help cancer patients receive optimal treatment by leveraging their biopsy image for personalized therapeutics. Using proprietary deep learning algorithms, the company's solution detects the presence of cancer-specific biomarkers from the biopsy image only.
iCardio: iCardio.ai designs machine learning algorithms for everything echo, leveraging a database of over 200 million individual echo images and the iCardio.ai Platform. The company maintains a vast network of echo-technicians, echocardiographers, and cardiologists to both collect and annotate data and has developed deep learning solutions to calculate linear, area, and volumetric measurements as well as disease and abnormality detection and classification.
Cordio: Cordio Medical provides medical-grade solutions that monitor several health conditions by analyzing voice/speech samples recorded in a mobile app backed by proprietary signal speech processing algorithms, which allow near real-time monitoring and early detection of condition deterioration. Using only patient speech, sampled via mobile device, the Cordio HearO can sense fluid accumulation related to CHF and alert healthcare professionals in real-time.
President of AstraZeneca Israel Ohad Goldberg said, "AstraZeneca is proud to take part in the second cycle of the PlayBeyondBio program, alongside our partners. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the need for investment in digital health. Today more than ever it's clear that advances in remote monitoring, telemedicine and digital health are vital areas for the healthcare industry. AstraZeneca sees such investments in digital technologies to support diagnosis, prediction and prevention of diseases as a key part of its effort to improve healthcare delivery in Israel."
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