Original From: 360DX

Roche said on Friday that it has entered into a collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb to develop and deploy two assays with new digital pathology algorithms for clinical trials.

In the first project under the collaboration, Roche Digital Pathology is developing an artificial intelligence-based image analysis algorithm to help pathologists interpret its Ventana PD-L1 (SP142) Assay, and New York City-based Bristol Myers Squibb will use the algorithm to generate biomarker data from clinical trial samples.

In the second project, Basel, Switzerland-based Roche will leverage a recently announced Open Environment collaboration with Boston-based PathAI to integrate an algorithm developed by PathAI for CD8 biomarker analysis into Roche's Navify Digital Pathology workflow software. Bristol Myers Squibb will use the AI algorithm to analyze clinical trial samples that have been stained with Roche's CD8 assay and generate quantitative spatial biomarker data.

Data from the two projects will be used for the diagnosis of cancer and to develop personalized treatments to improve patient outcomes, Roche said. 

Financial and other terms of the collaboration were not disclosed.

"We believe digital methods will bring significant improvements in standardization and interpretation of tissue-based assays and will enable broader access to tissue-based assays," Sarah Hersey, VP of Translational Sciences and Diagnostics at Bristol Myers Squibb, said in a statement. "The ability to more deeply interrogate images will present opportunities to better understand disease biology, potentially leading to expanded and improved drug development options and ultimately highly effective patient selection strategies."

Source: Roche, Bristol Myers Squibb Partner on Digital Pathology Algorithms, Assays for Cancer Diagnosis