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Owkin, AstraZeneca Partner to Develop AI-Based Breast Cancer Prescreening Tool

NEW YORK – Artificial intelligence firm Owkin announced on Wednesday that it is partnering with AstraZeneca to develop an AI-based prescreening tool for gBRCA mutations in breast cancer.

The tool will use Owkin's data network and artificial intelligence tools to optimize prescreening for the mutations directly from digitized hematoxylin and eosin-stained pathology slides. It will be developed with data from more than 6,500 whole-slide images from resections and biopsies of about 2,000 patients, up to half of whom have the gBRCA mutation, Owkin said in a statement.

The tool is being developed as part of Owkin's ongoing collaboration with Institut Gustave Roussy and the Centre Léon Bérard via the French consortium PortrAIt, which intends to accelerate precision medicine through AI-enabled digital pathology.

The solution could identify a patient at high risk of having a gBRCA mutation in less than an hour, which "could greatly streamline the gBRCA testing process, allowing oncologists and genetic counselors to accelerate the gBRCA genetic testing for high-risk patients and incorporate these genetic test results into the treatment planning process without delays," Owkin said.

The tool is currently in development and undergoing validation.

Owkin CEO Thomas Clozel noted in a statement that "by streamlining the diagnostic process for determining BRCA mutation status, we can expand access to BRCA testing and identify more gBRCAm patients more rapidly."

"Our goal is to generate the best possible medical evidence through multiple clinical studies, making genetic testing more accessible and precise, and therefore reduce the inequity of care by allowing more patients to benefit from tailored care," he added.

Owkin previously received CE marking for digital pathology tests for breast and colorectal cancer in 2022.