Progenics Enters Collaboration with Veterans Affairs for Medical Image Analysis

Progenics Pharmaceuticals has entered a collaboration with Veteran Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System (VAGLAHS) to support the development of new machine learning tools aimed at improving detection of prostate cancer through medical imaging.

The project is the first collaborative effort in the U.S. to explore pioneering artificial intelligence (AI) technologies for improving treatment of prostate cancer in veterans.

“We are pleased to be collaborating with the VAGLAHS and Dr. Matthew Rettig, Chief of Hematology-Oncology, on the AI imaging platform, bringing together the largest integrated healthcare network in the U.S. with the leader in prostate cancer detection and monitoring,” Mark Baker, Progenics’ CEO, said in a press release.

“Progenics’ AI research program will provide the VAGLAHS, and in the future, the entire VA, with standardized, quantitative information to improve the quality of life, care and treatment of our Veterans with prostate cancer. We believe that artificial intelligence can be applied successfully to automate the segmentation, classification, and quantification of tumors, thereby enabling improved treatment decisions for men with prostate cancer,” he added.

Under the collaboration, VAGLAHS will gain access to Progenics’ AI imaging analysis platforms, specifically the automated Bone Scan Index (aBSI) and PSMA-AI.

aBSI is a platform to quantify spread of prostate cancer to bones (metastases) on skeletal scintigraphy, or bone scans. PSMA-AI is an image analysis technology to improve detection of prostate cancer in single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) scans, using prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeting imaging agents.

The goal of the collaborative project is to create predictive machine learning algorithms able to enhance detection of prostate cancer in medical scans. The algorithms will be developed using medical images of patients, and their related clinical outcomes, with the objective of producing standardized, information-driven healthcare practices in prostate cancer.

VAGLAHS data from veterans with prostate cancer will be used to validate the new algorithms, and advance healthcare management of these patients.

Progenics develops innovative medicines and technologies to target and treat cancer, including improved PSMA-targeted imaging agents for prostate cancer, such as 1404 and PyL. PyL is a clinical-stage, fluorinated PSMA-targeted imaging agent for the detection of prostate cancer using positron emission topography (PET) scans.