AI/ML Healthcare Focused Companies:
What’s Out There?
1) Atomwise
This San Francisco-based company aims to reduce the costs of medicine development by using supercomputers to predict in advance from a database of molecular structures which potential medicines will work, and which won’t.
Their technology, called AtomNet, uses convolutional neural networks. By taking cues from millions of experimental affinity measurements and thousands of protein structures, AtomNet is able to predict the binding of small molecules to proteins and thereby identify an effective and safe drug candidate.
2) Deep Genomics
Toronto-based Deep Genomics created an A.I. platform that works in concert with its experts to discover and develop genetic medicines, including novel therapeutic solutions for conditions with high unmet need. For instance, the company announced in September 2019 that it discovered a novel treatment target and corresponding drug candidate for Wilson disease. Deep Genomics is also working on its Project Saturn,which it describes as a “toolkit for controlling cell biology along crucial pathways”, which will allow for faster discovery of therapies.
3) Deep 6
Deep 6 uses AI to, in its own words, “find more patients in minutes, not months.” The patients in this sense are participants in clinical trials — a critical part of the research process in developing new medicine; certainly one of the challenging issues finding a vaccine for COVID-19 is finding a community of appropriate candidates. Deep 6 accomplishes this by using an AI-powered system to scan through medical records, with the ability to understand patterns in human health.
4) Flatiron Health
Using machine learning to mine health data for cancer research, Flatiron finds cancer research information in near real time, drawing on a variety of sources. The company raised more than $175 million in Series C funding before being acquired earlier by cancer research giant Roache.
5) Freenome
Freenome uses artificial intelligence to conduct cancer screenings and diagnostic tests to spot signs of cancer earlier than possible with traditional testing methods. It uses non-invasive blood tests to recognize disease-associated patterns. The company’s solution has trained on cancer-positive blood samples, which enable it to detect problems using specific biomarkers.
6) Google Health/Deepmind
Acquired by Google in 2014, Deepmind is a research firm that focuses on AI research, covering everything from climate change to healthcare and finance. It’s goal is to build “safe” AI that evolves in their abilities to solve problems. Google Health is tapping into A.I.’s potential to help in cancer diagnosis, predicting patient outcomes, averting blindness, and more.The firm is based in London and recruits heavily from Oxford and Cambridge, which are leading universities in Europe for AI and ML research.
7) IBM Watson
IBM has been a leader in the field of artificial intelligence since the 1950s. IBM Watson Health was created to help solve some of the world’s most pressing health challenges through data, analytics and AI. By combining human experts with augmented intelligence, IBM Watson Health helps health professionals and researchers around the world translate data and knowledge into insights to make more-informed decisions about care in hundreds of hospitals and health organizations, and a large, growing body of evidence supports the use of Watson in healthcare.
8) iCarbonX
iCarbonX is a Chinese biotech startup that uses artificial intelligence to provide personalized health analyses and health index predictions. It has formed an alliance with seven technology companies from around the world that specialize in gathering different types of health-care data, and will use algorithms to analyze genomic, physiological and behavioral data and provide customized health and medical advice. Essentially, iCarbonX wants to digitize human life.
9) Insitro
Insitro operates at “the convergence of human biology and machine learning.” More specifically, it uses artificial intelligence to build models of various human illnesses, using those models to forecast previously unknown solutions — far beyond human intuition. These models use the power of ML to improve drug discovery and development. Founded by Daphne Koller, Insitro has drawn investment from an exhaustive array of VC and financial firms.
10) K Health
There’s a gray area in our lives in terms of healthcare; we ask ourselves, does this problem I’m having really require making a doctor’s appointment, or could a major dose of simple information be enough? K Health’s AI solution operates in this area. Users can text with a doctor or find similar cases near them (useful for COVID-19). And, using a model built from a vast store of anonymous health records, its system offers help based on how a user’s complaint correlates with this vast history of other patients. Think of K Health as the advanced edge of telemedicine.
11) Oncora Medical
The Philadelphia-based start-up aims to help cancer research and treatment, especially in radiation therapy. One of its co-founders, David Lindsay, was doing clinical work as an M.D./Ph.D student at the University of Pennsylvania, when he recognized that radiation oncologists had no integrated digital database that collected and organized electronic medical records. So he decided to build exactly that: a data analytics platform that can help doctors design sound radiation treatment plans for patients.
PostEra uses machine learning to close the design-make-test loop of drug discovery and reduce its clients’ cycle times. PostEra is currently leading an international team of scientists to find a COVID-19 antiviral via an open science initiative.
13) Tempus
Tempus — “data driven precision medicine” — uses AI to fight disease and bolster patient outcomes. It gathers and analyzes massive pools of medical and clinical data at scale to provide precision medicine that personalizes and optimizes treatments to each individual’s specific health needs. Applications include neurology, psychiatry, and oncology.
14) Zebra Medical Vision
Zebra Medical Systems is an Israeli company that applies deep learning techniques to the field of radiology. It claims it can predict multiple diseases with better-than-human accuracy by examining a huge library of medical images and a specialized examination technology. It recently moved its algorithms to Google Cloud to help it scale. It offers inexpensive medical scans.
15) Zymergen
Founded in 2013, AI biotech company Zymergen describes itself as a “biofacturer.” One of their offerings is called Hyline, a bio-based polyimide film. Their work includes applications for pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and industrial uses. Based in Emeryville, California.
