Many startups are introducing AI to fight cancer. For example, recently, Google introduced SMILY for cancer diagnosis. Now, another startup, Paige, has arrived, which uses artificial intelligence to fight cancer. The startup has just $45 million in funding to continue building and expanding its services.
The company Paige uses AI methods to map better the pathology of cancer, which is an essential component of understanding cancer that has infinite mutations. The company says that it would use the funding to get FDA approval for its products that it is developing, in certain areas, like prognostic capabilities and biomarkers.
Paige also plans to use the current funding to sort out better ways of fighting the disease and exploring more commercial opportunities for its work in the pharmaceutical industry. However, the company hasn’t introduced any commercial products yet.
Healthcare Venture Partners is leading the current funding round. Moreover, a previous investor is also participating, which is Breyer Capital, Kenan Turnacioglu. Although the company hasn’t disclosed its current valuation, PitchBook noted that after the first close of this round, the company’s valuation was at $208 million. With the $45 million close, the valuation of the company is going to be around $250 million.
Paige started inside the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, which is one of the most famous institutions working on cancer therapies and cancer patients. Jim Breyer led the initial funding of $25 million. Paige also secured access to the 25 million pathology slides of MSK and the AI computational pathology. These 25 million slides were one of a kind in the world, and they played an essential role in the startup’s beginnings.
The startup also has some serious talent. Dr. Thomas Fuchs made most of the computation pathology which Paige uses. He is also known as the “father of computational pathology.”
Fuchs co-founded the company along with Dr. David Klimstra, the chairman of the pathology department at MSK. Fuchs started as the CEO of Paige. However, Leo Grady replaced him earlier this year. Fuchs still works alongside the company but is no longer an executive.
In the two years of its launch, the company has reached many milestones. The company has around 30 employees today. It was the first one to get an FDA breakthrough designation for the use of AI in oncology pathology. Moreover, it is also the first one to get a CE mark, which opens its door for Europe. Till today, the company has around 1.2 million images in its slides and is using them to work on building diagnostic solutions.
However, progress in biotech startups happens eventually. Thus, even with all its successes, the company hasn’t released any specific product. It isn’t also clear how the insights in cancer pathology can turn into products. Moreover, when it came out of stealth, Paige said that it would focus on prostate, breast, and other major cancers. However, the company hasn’t specified which type of cancer is its core focus.
The company has shifted its focus from the clinical side to the pharmaceutical side. Grady said in a statement, “Although clinical side is our focus, we think that our work has a wider impact which includes pharmaceutical customers too.”
Grady also mentioned the challenges of talking to investors when you are focusing on the latest products. He said, “We are at the intersection of tech, clinical medicine, and biotech. Many investors are interested in only one of them, which makes conversations with them quite challenging.”
Paige has also dropped the.AI from its name, and Grady said that it was intentional. He said that the word gets thrown around too much.
