Cambridge University Hospitals Trust to use AI in search of better patient outcomes

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) will utilise clinical artificial intelligence (AI) research in an effort to gain a better understanding of various diseases and their associated treatments.

CUH has signed a five-year, non-exclusive Strategic Research Agreement (SRA) with clinical AI company Sensyne Health to understand how clinical decision tools can support patient care, improve clinical decision making and accelerate the process of drug development.

Specifically, the groups will work together and analyse de-identified patient records to carry out research with the potential of providing new understanding and treatments into diseases which the Trust specialises in, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and rare diseases.

One key part of the partnership will be cancer research. Sensyne will use its expertise to analyse cancer patient pathways to potentially reduce patient waiting times and improve patient care.

The partnership will also focus on the use of clinical decision tools which can help clinicians analyse data sets to help their decision-making. AI will also be applied to retrospective clinical data and be used for synthetic control arms of clinical trials to potentially accelerate the process of drug development. The groups will also be exploring how AI can assist drug discovery and see which medicines can be used to treat rare and common diseases better.

Lord Paul Drayson, chief executive Officer of Sensyne Health, said: “Sensyne is delighted to be working with Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, a leading national centre for the treatment of rare or complex conditions and a university teaching hospital with a worldwide reputation.  Cambridge University Hospitals is also recognised as a leader in the use of digital tools and health data to improve patient care and has built a large, high quality data set as a result. The Trust has invested heavily in its digital infrastructure and the curation of its data which means we can start work immediately. Together we aim to use the power of ethical AI to make a real difference in finding new and better ways to treat cancer and other complex diseases.”

CUH’s dataset covers three million unique patient records which will be available for analyse by Sensyne’s clinical AI technology. Data accessed by Sensyne will be de-identified by CUH beforehand and its provision will operate under an agreed Data Processing Protocol (“DPP”) under CUH governance oversight.

Dr Ashley Shaw, CUH medical director, said: “At CUH we use a wide range of research to constantly improve the lives of patients both locally and around the world. Sitting at the heart of Europe’s biggest life sciences campus, alongside some of the world’s most pre-eminent academics and industrial partners, we know the power of collaborations to bring about discoveries that will benefit us all. By searching large de-identified datasets, machine learning tools can spot patterns which are otherwise indiscernible, shedding light on causes of disease and opening up new treatment opportunities.”