If you have been a patient at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), you may be an unknowing participant in a joint venture between MSK and Paige.AI (an acronym for \u201cPathology Artificial Intelligence Guidance Engine\u201d). [1] Though you will never benefit financially from your contribution to this endeavor, one backed by $25 million in Series A funding primarily from Breyer Capital, you just might benefit in immeasurable ways through the advances in cancer pathology supposedly made possible by the newly-established partnership. [2]<\/p>\n
As the first or second-ranked cancer treatment facility in the United States (switching ranks with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center based on the year), MSK is looked to as the provider of the most cutting-edge and innovative cancer treatments in the country. [3] In recent years, a wave of transformation in cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment has been started by artificial intelligence companies like Wision AI, which partnered with institutions including 性视界 Medical School to develop a \u201cnovel deep-learning algorithm [that] can automatically detect polyps during colonscop[ies]\u201d in the colorectal cancer space, [4] and academic institutions like MIT\u2019s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, which worked with Massachusetts General Hospital\u2019s Department of Radiology to \u201capply machine learning to the task of distinguishing high-risk lesions that need surgery from those that don\u2019t\u201d for breast cancer patients. [5]<\/p>\n
Because of this momentum from other players in the cancer space, in order for MSK to live up to its branding as a provider of \u201cinnovative research\u201d and \u201cstate-of-the-art science flourishing side by side with clinical studies and treatment,\u201d MSK has no choice but to dive into the machine learning space itself to best manage its cancer care process improvement efforts. [6]<\/p>\n
To begin incorporating machine learning into its \u201cstrategies to prevent, control, and ultimately cure cancer,\u201d [7] in February 2018, MSK contracted with Paige.AI to provide \u201can exclusive deal to use [MSK\u2019s] vast archive of 25 million patient tissue slides, along with decades of work by [MSK\u2019s] world-renowned pathologists\u201d in exchange for a 9% equity stake in Paige.AI. [8] Co-founded by MSK\u2019s director of Computational Pathology and chairman of the Department of Pathology, [9] Paige.AI\u2019s mission is \u201c[t]o revolutionize the clinical diagnosis and treatment of cancer through the use of artificial intelligence.\u201d [10]<\/p>\n
In the short term, in addition to entering into this partnership, making Paige.AI\u2019s launch possible, [11] MSK will work to provide access to the 5 million digitized pathology slides as well as the 20 million slides which Paige.AI will digitize [12] (while retaining all original slides at MSK). [13] This joint venture also comprises MSK\u2019s plan to integrate machine learning in the medium term, as \u201c[Paige.AI] is years away from selling a finished product.\u201d [14] Once the product is ready, MSK will have a tool capable of suggesting the organ origin, stage and type (primary or secondary) of a patient\u2019s cancer, based on comparing their sample to the 25 million slides provided by MSK. [15] Not only will physicians be better equipped to recommend the most appropriately targeted treatments, MSK will also receive additional funding for research from \u201c[a]ny revenue generated based on MSK\u2019s ownership in\u201d Paige.AI. [16]<\/p>\n
As the timeline for Paige.AI\u2019s tool is uncertain, [17] in the short term MSK should begin to test the clinically-validated products that have been developed by other companies, such as SpIntellx\u2019s TumorMapr, which \u201canalyzes the spatial interactions within whole slide images using multiplexed fluorescence . . . to predict patient outcomes to better provide personalized therapeutic strategies,\u201d in order to provide patients the benefits of currently available artificial intelligence tools, even before the MSK-backed Paige.AI system is ready for use. [18]<\/p>\n
In the medium term, MSK needs to implement a strategy to incentivize physicians and researchers to develop machine learning capabilities inhouse, rather than starting their own companies outside of MSK. Retaining the product\u2019s life-cycle within MSK is necessary to prevent recurrence of the concerns of stakeholders regarding the MSK-Paige.AI joint venture: patients\u2019 concerns about a third-party profiting from their biological materials without their consent, physicians\u2019 concerns \u201cthat the founders received equity stakes in a company that relies on the pathologists\u2019 expertise and work amassed over 60 years\u201d and nonprofit and corporate governance experts\u2019 worries about potential lack of compliance with federal and state law given the absence of a competitive bidding process for exclusive use of MSK\u2019s slides and conflicts of interest created by Paige.AI\u2019s co-founders having influence over MSK\u2019s data resources. [19]<\/p>\n
The improvements to cancer care through machine learning could be extraordinary, and nothing could signal this more strongly than a partnership between MSK, a preeminent leader in the fight against cancer, and an artificial intelligence company. However, this venture raises important, and ever more complex, questions about patients\u2019 data. Should organizations be required to solicit patients\u2019 consent for including their information, even anonymized, in the data used to develop machine learning capabilities? Should patients be compensated for their contributions to the tools created? (800)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
[1] Paige.AI, \u201cHome,\u201d https:\/\/paige.ai\/<\/a>, accessed November 2018.<\/p>\n [2] Business Wire: A Berkshire Hathaway Company, \u201cPaige.AI Created to Transform Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment by Applying Artificial Intelligence to Pathology,\u201d February 5, 2018, https:\/\/www.businesswire.com\/news\/home\/20180205005557\/en\/Paige.AI-Created-Transform-Cancer-Diagnosis-Treatment-Applying<\/a>, accessed November 2018.<\/p>\n [3] U.S. News & World Report, \u201cBest Hospitals for Cancer,\u201d https:\/\/health.usnews.com\/best-hospitals\/rankings\/cancer<\/a>, accessed November 2018.<\/p>\n [4] Mike Miliard, \u201cAI Algorithms Show Promise for Colonoscopy Screenings,\u201d Healthcare IT News, November 5, 2018, https:\/\/www.healthcareitnews.com\/news\/ai-algorithms-show-promise-colonoscopy-screenings<\/a>, accessed November 2018.<\/p>\n [5] Adam Conner-Simons, \u201cUsing Artificial Intelligence to Improve Early Breast Cancer Detection,\u201d MIT News, October 16, 2017, http:\/\/news.mit.edu\/2017\/artificial-intelligence-early-breast-cancer-detection-1017<\/a>, accessed November 2018.<\/p>\n [6] Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, \u201cAbout Us,\u201d https:\/\/www.mskcc.org\/about, accessed November 2018.<\/p>\n [7] Ibid.<\/p>\n [8] Charles Ornstein and Katie Thomas, \u201cSloan Kettering\u2019s Cozy Deal with Start-Up Ignites a New Uproar,\u201d New York Times<\/em>, September 20, 2018, https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/09\/20\/health\/memorial-sloan-kettering-cancer-paige-ai.html<\/a>, accessed November 2018.<\/p>\n [9] Ibid.<\/p>\n [10] Paige.AI, \u201cHome.\u201d<\/p>\n [11] Ornstein and Thomas, \u201cSloan Kettering\u2019s Cozy Deal with Start-Up Ignites a New Uproar.\u201d<\/p>\n [12] Ingrid Lunden, \u201cPaige.AI Nabs $25M, Inks IP Deal with Sloan Kettering to Bring Machine Learning to Cancer Pathology,\u201d Tech Crunch, February 2018, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2018\/02\/05\/paige-ai-nabs-25m-inks-ip-deal-with-sloan-kettering-to-bring-machine-learning-to-cancer-pathology\/<\/a>, accessed November 2018.<\/p>\n [13] \u201cMemorial Sloan Kettering and Paige.AI,\u201d press release, September 23, 2018, on Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center website, https:\/\/www.mskcc.org\/press-releases\/msk-and-paige-ai<\/a>, accessed November 2018.<\/p>\n [14] Ornstein and Thomas, \u201cSloan Kettering\u2019s Cozy Deal with Start-Up Ignites a New Uproar.\u201d<\/p>\n [15] Lunden, \u201cPaige.AI Nabs $25M, Inks IP Deal with Sloan Kettering to Bring Machine Learning to Cancer Pathology.\u201d<\/p>\n [16] \u201cMemorial Sloan Kettering and Paige.AI,\u201d press release.<\/p>\n [17] Ornstein and Thomas, \u201cSloan Kettering\u2019s Cozy Deal with Start-Up Ignites a New Uproar.\u201d<\/p>\n