RetinAI and Novartis ink multi-year collaboration agreement

RetinAI Discovery is a certified data management platform for efficiently processing data at scale across imaging platforms and devices. Discovery is used today by professionals to navigate imaging data, compute imaging biomarkers and track changes over time for some of the most common forms of eye diseases. RetinAI’s tools also support diagnostic analyses and clinical workflows and patient monitoring and adherence to treatment.

In a multi-year collaboration with the pharma giant Novartis, RetinAI will provide its IT solutions and artificial intelligence tools to support multiple ophthalmology and digital health projects. This announcement comes after successful pilot projects between Novartis and RetinAI.

The first project under the new 'Master Agreement' will support a multi-centre international clinical study involving patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD). The study is designed to investigate the influence of optical coherence tomography (OCT) image solutions using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to assess disease activity. The study will be conducted in several clinical centres in numerous European countries and Canada, involving more than 500 patients.

Dirk Sauer, Global Development Head of the Ophthalmology Franchise at Novartis Pharma AG, sees RetinAI as a strategic partner for advancing eye care through digital innovation.  “With previous projects, RetinAI’s services have enabled us to enhance and more efficiently structure retina scans and data collected from our clinical studies. Together with RetinAI, we are working on end-to-end solutions to generate swift and comprehensive disease insights to treat patients better and improve patient outcomes.”

Carlos Ciller, CEO of RetinAI, commented: “RetinAI is excited to expand and intensify our partnership with Novartis who is one of the top pharma companies in ophthalmology with deep competence, dedication and focus on digital innovation in eye care. We see the value that RetinAI can bring to Novartis. Our Discovery® platform and AI tools are enablers to increase efficiency in research and clinical studies, and we expect they can also improve medications and treatments for patients. We believe using RetinAI’s technologies to support patients treated with ophthalmic medications will provide enhanced disease insights and create opportunities for more precise treatments.”