Prashant Warier, CEO and Founder, Qure.ai
Healthcare is one of the fundamental pillars of society. However, over the past 2 years, rapidly rising COVID-19 infection caseloads have placed global health systems under pressure, often threatening to overwhelm available resources. Now more than ever, the role of technology, specifically Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions, in assisting medical practitioners and alleviating the extraordinary burden placed on them, is coming to the fore.
Qure.ai is a home-grown AI solutions provider that is disrupting the ‘status quo’ in diagnostics by enhancing imaging accuracy and improving health outcomes with the assistance of AI. We tap deep learning technology to automate interpretation of radiology exams for time and resource-strapped healthcare professionals, enabling faster diagnosis and speed to treatment. Our goal is to make healthcare more accessible and affordable to patients worldwide.
In mid-2020, we started working with secondary care hospitals in rural and semi-urban areas of India, that was delivering last mile healthcare connectivity. Some of these are in isolated tribal areas but host close to 100,000 OPD visits annually. With scarce resources, they were already handling a significant burden of Tuberculosis (TB), but had to swiftly respond to COVID-19 as well. Most did not have RT-PCR testing facilities nearby, increasing the diagnosis time by days, and exposing the limited staff to COVID-19.
Imaging procedures have been established to be the most effective method of evaluating the lung state of COVID-19 patients as well as measuring the disease’s rate of progression. The use of chest X-rays as a first investigation prior to confirmatory testing could be done because these hospitals have chest X-ray facilities. However, the scarcity of trained chest physicians and limited access to teleradiology services meant analysing chest X-rays could take days, leaving little time for reporting. We realised that our technology could help physicians in these hospitals in caring for vulnerable populations despite their resource constraints
In partnership with ACT Grants, we undertook a project to implement qXR, our AI algorithm for chest X-ray interpretation, in 20 select charitable and government hospitals across 14 states in India. The objective was to strengthen COVID-19 response by scaling up the usage of qXR for triage and critical care management. qXR was used across the following use cases:
AI for COVID-19 Triage
qXR was used for triage or immediate isolation based on chest X-rays, which played an important role before confirmatory tests, screening for infectious diseases when dedicated radiology services were unavailable.
AI for COVID-19 Surveillance
In several hospitals, qXR was used in chest X-ray surveillance mode to track asymptomatic or incidental COVID-19 cases that might otherwise be missed. Based on the screening result, they were deferred till diagnosis or handled with appropriate additional safety measures in case of an emergency.
AI for COVID-19 Progression Monitoring
In hospitals with COVID wards, qXR was used as an objective disease progression monitoring tool. At sites where digital X-Ray setups were not available or integration was not possible, Qure.ai’s app qTrack was used by the hospital team to take a photo of the chest X-Ray film. The digitised photo would be analysed by Qure.ai’s AI software to check for COVID-19 indications.
AI for Other Clinical Uses
Over the course of the project period, qXR’s role evolved, and included its use as a training tool for junior doctors, being used to help ensure safety of clinical and hospital staff, its use as one of the mechanisms to correct for false negatives of the RAT, and for Tuberculosis screening and other lung ailments.
The journey of Qure.ai
Established in 2016, the company has grown in leaps and bounds in terms of revenue, clients and geographical presence. The startup’s dedicated effort to build out-of-the-box healthcare technology solutions that can help health professionals to improve their practices and deliver quality patient care has won Qure.ai many prestigious awards including the Nvidia Social Innovation Award and Forbes Awards for Innovation.
In the year 2020, this Mumbai-based healthcare startup initiated a partnership with the world’s leading pharmaceutical firm, AstraZeneca A.Catalyst Network through the India Sweden Healthcare Innovation Centre. The motive behind this collaboration is to stimulate the integration of ingenious artificial intelligence solutions and analyse the deep learning algorithms to support the early detection of lung cancer in patients. This will help healthcare providers extend absolute care, reduce mortality rates, and boosts patient outcomes. Both the organization share the vision of exploring the market opportunities in India, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
Qure.ai banded together with leading organizations like Stanford University, the Mayo Clinic, and the Massachusetts General Hospital to leverage AI and fabricate medical technologies. In India, it has collaborated with NITI Aayog, Piramal Foundation’s Piramal Swasthya initiative, and PATH NGO to nurture and further the advancement of radiology and pathology across the country. The company is said to have utilized above 3.5 million data to condition an AI algorithm that ensures accurate diagnostics, enhancing patient care.
The company is supported by investors like fractal, Sequoia, and MassMutual. It has raised around $16 million in financing for AI. Qure.ai’s Brain CT has bagged funding from the NHS as well. It has a huge research partners and customers list that includes big giants such as MAX Healthcare, AWS, FujiFilms, Azure, Intel, and others.
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