SBRI Healthcare announces latest development awards for cancer screening solutions

NHS funded initiative, SBRI Healthcare, has revealed its latest round of development awards, with 10 companies set to share a £1 million investment to develop innovations for high potential cancer screening solutions.

The successful projects — which include a digital platform to support GPs in the early identification of patients with cancer, a non-invasive prostate liquid biopsy test, an AI enabled diagnostic technology to automatically identify metastatic regions in lymph nodes and a development to an existing AI melanoma screening tool — will each receive between £94,000 and £100,000 funding. In addition to money, the projects will also be afforded support by the SBRI Healthcare team in order to demonstrate technical feasibility of the innovations over a six-month development phase. Once this six month development phase is completed each business will then be able to pitch for further funding (worth £1 million) to advance the development and commercialisation of their respective technologies.

“Earlier cancer diagnosis is now a major priority in the UK. With this in mind, it has been extremely encouraging to have the opportunity to examine the projects brought forward by SBRI Healthcare, who have played a major role in this context. The scope of the call was deliberately wide, the quality of applications was very high and judgement was therefore challenging,” commented Professor Stanley Kaye, professor of Medical Oncology, The Royal Marsden Hospital. “There are opportunities for improvement at various stages along the cancer journey, from initial presentation to more personalised screening and treatment, and the range of successful applications reflects this. We certainly look forward to hearing of the initial findings, and for cancer patients in the UK we are confident that the investment will be a worthwhile one.”

David Shackley, medical director of Greater Manchester Cancer added: “We have seen some really excellent bids from small businesses in this round of SBRI Healthcare with a key theme coming through of the evolving interest in developing computer aided diagnosis, in both radiology and pathology. Such technology will I am sure, transform cancer care with faster and more reliable diagnosis by supporting doctors make the right decisions. It’s fantastic that companies are helping the NHS develop such solutions.”

The companies (and supporting Academic Health Science Network) to receive development awards are: Aidence (The Netherlands), C the Signs (Eastern AHSN), Cambridge Oncometrix (Eastern AHSN), Chromition (Greater Manchester AHSN), CorporateHealth International UK (Scotland), DeepMed IO (Greater Manchester), FaHRAS (East Midlands AHSN), Oncimmune (East Midlands AHSN), Skin Analytics (Imperial College Health Partners) and VODCA (Imperial College Health Partners).

“We are extremely grateful to SBRI Healthcare for this award. The funding will enable us to develop our technology further and make a significant difference to patients’ lives,” said Dr Bhavagaya Bakshi, co-founder of funded company, ‘C the Signs’. “As two NHS doctors, we founded ‘C the Signs’ to revolutionise the early diagnosis of cancer. Covering the entire spectrum of cancer, C the Signs is a digital platform that can identify patients at risk of cancer in under 30 seconds. The tool is currently being used in three health authorities, covering one million patients, with the plan to roll it out across the NHS.”