Sonic Imaging, one of Australia's largest diagnostic imaging providers, has partnered with annalise.ai to deploy the latters' artificial intelligence-powered chest x-ray platform across its 100 radiology clinics. 

WHAT IT DOES

Founded in 2019, annalise.ai is a joint venture of two Australian healthcare companies, Harrison.ai and I–MED Radiology Network. 

The AI company is the developer of the Annalise CXR, which they claim is the only comprehensive AI clinical support solution for chest x-rays in the world that detects 124 findings – to compare, typical chest x-ray AI products on the market can detect fewer than 15 findings. Its model was based on over 520,000 chest x-ray studies, comprising over 820,000 individual images. The datasets were labelled by a group of 148 radiologists. 

Annalise CXR is available for clinical use in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Malaysia and Europe. It is now being used by around three in 10 Australian radiologists, annalise.ai says.

The company is now looking to scale its offering as it enters more European and Asian markets this year. 

MARKET SNAPSHOT

There have been significant developments in the AI imaging market in the Asia-Pacific this year. Beijing-headquartered SenseTime in April got a CE mark for its AI diagnostic software for chest x-rays. Lunit, a South Korean startup, has recently received Singapore's approval to market its AI diagnostic tool for chest radiographs while Fujifilm Corporation has also secured Japan's approval for its own AI diagnostic software.

Another South Korean AI developer, VUNO, has partnered with Samsung Electronics for the integration of its AI-enabled chest x-ray diagnostic solution with the latter's premium mobile digital radiograph system. 

According to research firm MarketsandMarkets, the global market for AI in medical diagnostics might reach $3.9 billion in value by 2025 from $505 million last year, growing at a CAGR of 50.2%.

ON THE RECORD

Sonic Imaging CEO Julian Adler explained why they chose annalise.ai as its preferred decision support AI provider: "We determined that the Annalise Enterprise Platform is category-leading in its comprehensiveness and offers Sonic the premier AI platform we are seeking for [a] chest x-ray, with a strong roadmap across multiple modalities."

"The fact that radiologists and clinicians are heavily involved in solutions development and deployment is obvious, resulting in an intuitive product that radiologists appreciate. The implementation of the Annalise Enterprise Platform contributes to our ongoing commitment to patient safety and reporting quality at Sonic Imaging Australia," he added.