(7) Tempus Acquires Paige For $81.25 million | LinkedIn

Tempus Acquires Paige For $81.25 million

This week Tempus acquired Paige for $81.25 million. Paige is the global leader in generative AI for pathology, leveraging exclusive access to the largest and most diverse dataset in cancer diagnostics. The company builds AI powered computational pathology products that help doctors make more precise and informed treatment decisions. Paige is an acronym for Pathology AI Guidance Engine. The acquisition gives Tempus control of almost 7 million digitized pathology slide images and associated clinical and molecular data to support development of its AI model. Tempus will be able to grow its dataset, expand its experienced technical team, and establish a strong footprint in digital pathology with an industry leading technology portfolio.

“We’ve always believed that the future of cancer care and precision medicine lies in harnessing the full potential of AI to redefine what’s possible in digital pathology and transform how cancer is detected, understood, and treated. By joining forces with Tempus, a company already making remarkable strides in oncology diagnostics, we can bring our innovations to a broader patient population and deliver even greater impact. We are confident this partnership is uniquely positioned to maximize and expand the reach of our technology, ensuring it fulfills our mission of delivering powerful, data-driven insights.”

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Image source: Paige

With the number of cancer cases worldwide projected to increase by 60% over the next two decades, and a decrease in the number of pathologists relative to demand, there is an urgent need for new approaches like this. Many hospitals would like to use digital pathology but it's very expensive to collect and store huge amounts of image data. Paige's AI model solves the storage problem and makes it possible for smaller hospitals and clinics to use digital pathology.

Paige's technology also helps pharma companies to more effectively evaluate treatment options for patients and design new biomarkers for drug development so that every patient gets precise treatment options. Paige also incorporated predictive modeling to give pathologists and patients access to information about their biomarkers and genomic mutations.

In 2017 Paige spun off from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Using the hospital’s digital slide archive, the company trained algorithms to flag potentially cancerous lesions in images. Paige’s strong foundation in pathology and AI is rooted in its proprietary dataset of almost 7 million digitized pathology slides that are clinically annotated.
In 2021 the FDA cleared Paige Prostate for clinical use. This landmark approval marked the beginning of a new era in the use of AI in pathology and paved the way for AI in diagnostics.
In 2022 Paige and Janssen deployed a AI based biomarker test for bladder cancer.
In 2023 Paige and Microsoft built the world's largest AI model to detect cancer.

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Image source: Paige

“As we embark upon building the largest foundation model that’s ever been built in oncology, the acquisition of Paige substantially accelerates our efforts. Paige is a leader in digital pathology and has amassed one of the most comprehensive digital pathology datasets in the world through its relationship with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. We believe both the Paige team, with their deep generative AI experience, and the dataset they have built, will be catalytic across all of our AI efforts.”

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This article was written by Margaretta Colangelo. Margaretta is a leading AI analyst who tracks significant milestones in AI. She writes about real-world AI applications in healthcare. Over 8 million people have read her articles and reports. She is based in Honolulu and serves on the advisory board of the AI Precision Health Institute at the University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center.