Already a regular Microsoft partner, Paige is now adding some Nuance to its collaboration with the tech giant.
Paige, the maker of a cloud-based digital pathology platform—complete with artificial intelligence-powered tools to spot signs of disease in pathology slides—announced this week that it has teamed up with Microsoft subsidiary Nuance to expand the reach of its technology.
The news of their team-up came at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago this week.
Under the terms of their collab, Paige will embed some of its digital pathology tools into Nuance’s PowerShare image-sharing network, with an aim of connecting pathology labs of all capabilities to leading pathologists at well-resourced hospitals.
Tools shared by Paige will include the FDA-cleared FullFocus digital slide viewer and the FullFolio AI-powered image manager. Meanwhile, the PowerShare network—which is currently used by more than 14,000 facilities—was originally developed to make it easier for clinicians to share medical images across their health systems and with patients.
According to the companies, combining their respective technologies will create “the largest digital consultation network in pathology,” allowing expert pathologists across the U.S. to quickly chime in on virtual slide analyses while eliminating the high costs, damage risks and time constraints that often come with sending out physical slides for external consultation.
“Our collaboration with Nuance heralds a new dawn in pathology where pathology consultation becomes easier and cheaper and where patients can get access to the right experts at the right time,” Paige CEO Andy Moye said in the announcement. “Together, Paige and Nuance seek to break down traditional barriers to cancer diagnosis and accelerate the wider adoption of digital pathology.”
He added, “In the end, it’s the patients who stand to benefit the most. The accessibility and swiftness of the digital consultation system mean that every patient, irrespective of their location, can benefit from expert opinions, ensuring optimal quality care and faster diagnoses.”
Before striking the partnership with Nuance, Paige had already teamed up with its parent company.
In the latest iteration of the Microsoft collab, Paige said in September that it would rely on Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing technology to help achieve its goal of building a cancer-spotting AI model that will be “orders-of-magnitude larger” than any other such model currently in existence.