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Shutterstock / Sebastian Kaulitzki
The investment will enable Optellum to scale its base, operations, and commercial launches in the UK and USA; accelerate research and development; and expand its platform into personalised therapy decisions by integrating imaging data with molecular data, robotics, and liquid biopsies.
Optellum was co-founded by the University of Oxford’s Professor Sir Mike Brady with the mission of seeing every lung disease patient diagnosed and treated at the earliest possible stage, and cured. Founded in 2016, the company provides artificial intelligence decision-support software that assists physicians in early diagnosis and optimal treatment for their patients.
Lung cancer is the most common type of cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths in the world. Approximately 1.8 million people worldwide die from lung cancer each year. The current five-year survival rate is only 20%, primarily due to most patients being diagnosed after the disease has progressed to an advanced stage (Stage III or IV). However, the survival rate for small tumours treated at Stage IA is as high as 90%. This disparity highlights a critical need for diagnosis and treatment at the earliest stage possible.