The Iowa Innovation Acceleration Fund has loaned Coralville, Iowa medtech company VIDA Diagnostics $500,000 to further develop its innovative AI-driven imaging and analytics platform for radiologists.
This is the second contribution from the state fund to the company. Previous, financing has also been received from Delaware-based Chartline Capital Partners and Iowa’s Next Level Ventures. This latest financing brings the total funds received to $8.9M since the company was founded in 2003.
The loan is earmarked for hiring key personnel, market planning and product refinement.
Dr. Eric Hoffman, professor of radiology, medicine and biomedical engineering, along with fellow co-founders, Dr. Milan Sonka, professor of electrical and computer engineering, Dr. Joseph Reinhardt, professor of biomedical engineering, and the late Dr. Geoffrey McLennan, professor of internal medicine, radiology and biomedical engineering, developed the integrated software package, VIDA at a University of Iowa research lab. The company’s moniker stands for Volumetric Information Display and Analysis.
The founders’ aim was to transform pulmonary care using artificial intelligence and advanced imaging analysis so that medical teams would have more precise information from which they could better diagnose lung disease and develop personalized care plans for their patients.
The solution is the VIDA|vision Suite which combines the AI-powered analysis of a patient’s chest CT scan image, a LungPrint, with patient-centric, device-agnostic analytical software. VIDA|vision aids clinicians not only in the early detection and evaluation of lung diseases, such as cancer, emphysema, airway obstructive diseases, asthma and interstitial lung disease, but it also provides guidance for therapeutic planning and procedural workflows.
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According to Dr. Susan A. Wood, President and CEO of VIDA, in an earlier press release, “Precision healthcare requires precision information. Healthcare is moving to value quality of care over quantity of care. At VIDA, we are driven to improve treatment selection and therapy outcomes for pulmonary patients by equipping care teams with rich, evidence-based information they often lack today.”
Currently, VIDA Diagnostic’s software and services are cleared for clinical use in the United States, Canada, European Union, and Australia.
On June 25, 2019, VIDA Diagnostics announced its partnership with Nuance AI Marketplace for Diagnostic Imaging. This arrangement now makes VIDA’s LungPrint Discovery analysis available to 70 percent of all radiologists across more than 6,000 connected healthcare facilities.
“VIDA is laser focused on improving patient outcomes through enhanced information and radiologist efficiency,” said Wood in a recent press release. “We are excited to be contributing to Nuance’s AI Marketplace, bringing greater precision, personalization, and prediction into the hands of radiologists, and in turn, providing more value to the pulmonary clinician.”
Visit www.vidalung.ai for more information on this company.
