Imidex, an AI-enabled medical device company specializing in lung cancer detection, and DNA-sequencing technology specialist Orbit Genomics announced a strategic partnership to combine their offerings to help reduce lung cancer fatalities.

Imidex’s FDA 510(k)-cleared VisiRad XR device allows for detecting lung nodules as small as 6mm in chest X-rays. The company touts the VisiRad XR as having an 83% sensitivity rate in detecting lung nodules.

Orbit’s product, OrbiSeq-L, aims to help diagnose lung cancer in patients with unspecified pulmonary nodules found through low-dose CT. Plans are underway for clinical trials to start on OrbiSeq-L.

The partners plan to combine their offerings by utilizing VisiRad XR to help with lung cancer detection, and then having Orbit test those identified lung nodule patients with OrbiSeq-L. 

“Imidex’s technology is the top of the lung cancer identification funnel, utilizing chest X-rays rather than CT scans to detect potential cancer patients who might otherwise go undiagnosed,” Dede Willis, president and CEO of Orbit Genomics, said in a statement.

“Orbit Genomics can then immediately test those identified lung nodule patients with OrbiSeq-L, providing highly specific insights from a simple blood sample into their condition and directing them to the most effective forms of care.”

The OrbiSeq technology platform may have use beyond cancer detection, with potential applications in a wide variety of diseases and conditions, including heart and neurological disorders.

THE LARGER TREND

In July, Imidex partnered with Spesana, a personalized medicine technology company, to measure the impact of AI on improving lung nodules and mass detection. 

Imidex and Spesana aim to quantify downstream lung cancer-detection rates, identify at-risk patients for clinical trials through screening and evaluate the potential use of liquid biopsies resulting from nodule detection on chest X-rays.

Earlier this month, Orbit Genomics graduated from the CancerX Accelerator Program’s inaugural cohort. The CancerX Startup Accelerator is an innovation accelerator focused on the intersection of cancer and digital innovation. 

As vice president, Joe Biden launched the Cancer Moonshot to accelerate progress in cancer treatments and accessibility, and as president, Biden reignited the Moonshot in 2022.

Last year, as part of the Moonshot, the Department of Health and Human Services launched CancerX, a public-private partnership effort to boost cancer innovation in the U.S.

Orbit Genomics was selected from over 100 startup applicants to participate in the program, which included months of mentorship and hands-on learning at the Moffitt Cancer Center.