British AstraZeneca and Russian IT company UNIM have signed a contract to develop a platform for conducting educational consultations of doctors specializing in oncology. Representatives of both companies told Vedomosti about this.
“We are partnering with technology companies such as UNIM LLC to create working technologies that allow us to achieve better results,” a representative of the UK office of the pharmaceutical company told Vedomosti. – The role of the pathologist (studies pathological changes in the cells and tissues of the body. – Vedomosti) is becoming more and more important, it is important to accelerate the implementation of innovative solutions for the accurate diagnosis of cancer patients. “
For AstraZeneca UNIM is adapting its main development – Digital Pathology software. This platform has been operating for more than five years and allows a wide range of doctors from different countries to be involved in the diagnosis of oncological diseases.
This year, on the platform ordered from UNIM, AstraZeneca plans to organize a large-scale educational project aimed at raising the standards of lung cancer diagnostics. In the future, this experience can be extended to other areas of therapy, said the representative of AstraZeneca.
The project is scheduled to start in June and will last for five months. During this time, 400 pathologists will be trained on the platform, mainly from Asia (Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan), the Middle East (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) and Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina).
The project is relevant for all countries of the world, since lung cancer occupies a leading position among the causes of death among oncological diseases, says Alexey Remez, founder and co-owner of UNIM. According to him, the cost of the contract with AstraZeneca amounted to several tens of thousands of dollars.
“This is a large educational project designed to promote international and interdisciplinary diagnostic standards in the treatment of lung cancer,” explains Remez. – Doctors of various specialties are involved in the diagnosis and treatment of oncology. They have different criteria and methods of treatment, which often serves as an obstacle to achieving the goal. Therefore, the proliferation of diagnostic standards is critical. ”
The joint project with AstraZeneca opens up new opportunities for the entire field of telemedicine, says Boris Zingerman, director of the National Medical Knowledge Base Association: specialists. This opens up new opportunities for all doctors involved in the treatment of oncology. “
The introduction of modern digital technologies in pathomorphology is a very promising direction, the demand for such solutions will only grow, says Sergey Sorokin, CEO of the company – developer of Botkin.AI diagnostic systems.
One of the important tasks facing the developers of IT solutions for healthcare is the creation of a digital environment for effective professional interaction between clinicians and pathologists, since the lack of communication between them and the absence of uniform protocols increase the likelihood of a medical error, confirms the founder of the Third Opinion platform Anna Meshcheryakova: “In pathomorphology, this problem is especially acute: up to 40% of pathomorphological diagnoses are clarified during the revision of histological and cytological preparations. Digital platforms contribute to the standardization of medical directions and opinions, ensuring their consistency with international practice, Russian clinical guidelines and regulations. “
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