ContextVision, a medical technology software company specializing in image analysis and artificial intelligence, released its report for Q2 2018, and reported stable sales and good progress towards its new market, digital pathology. Q2 sales ended at 21,9 MSEK, compared to 22,7 MSEK in the same period last year. The continued expansion of the research R&D program and pre-marketing activities gave a lower result compared to the same quarter last year (-1,2 MSEK), in full accordance with the long-term strategy.
"During this quarter we have taken important steps towards our first product and, in parallel, significantly broadened our partnerships to provide unique data for a broader future portfolio," said Anita Tollstadius, CEO of ContextVision. "This gives us the opportunity to take an early leading position in the market within digital pathology based on AI technology."
An early product prototype for prostate cancer installed
In June, ContextVision made an on-site installation of an early prototype for INIFY(TM) Prostate, the company's upcoming decision support software for digital pathology. The product has the potential to facilitate and significantly speed up prostate cancer diagnosis based on digitalized H&E stained biopsy samples.
The installation was made through the full integration with the Hospital's Laboratory Information System at the pathology department at Ospedale Cannizzaro in Catania, Italy. This fully-digitalized laboratory will serve as a test center to provide feedback to the project and ensure smooth integration of the product into the clinical workflow.
"A close dialogue with this highly skilled and experienced team will allow the company to optimize the product's performance. This key milestone and our external networking during the second quarter, have without any doubt allowed us to take a position on the market," said Tollstadius.
Multiple viable options for a broad product portfolio
During the second quarter, ContextVision received a grant for a collaboration within lung cancer and established a new collaboration with a research team in Sweden regarding colon cancer. The initial research on colon cancer will focus on lymph node metastases and classification of colon polyps. Both collaborations provide unique training data based on well-documented patient data to which deep learning and artificial intelligence will be applied.
"Because of our external activities and networking, we're starting to be recognized as a player within digital pathology with a highly-skilled team within artificial intelligence. This has been prioritized this quarter and, therefore, we have postponed the formal market introduction of our first product to next year. However, we believe that our networking and establishment of partnerships will benefit our overall performance," said Tollstadius.
Positive response to pre-launch
The concept for the first product within digital pathology, a decision support tools for prostate cancer, was launched at the European Congress on Digital Pathology (ECPD) in Helsinki in June, where ContextVision exhibited. The product concept was well received, generating a lot of interest among attendees. During the congress, ContextVision also presented its unique method for generating high quality data for training. This method, MasterAnnotation(TM), is a unique, patent-filed annotation method that can thereby be used for consistent and specific training of algorithms, a prerequisite for developing robust products.
For further information, please contact ContextVision’s CEO, Anita Tollstadius, cell: +46 70 337 30 26 or visit www.contextvision.com.
About ContextVision
ContextVision is a medical technology software company that specializes in image analysis and artificial intelligence. ContextVision is the global market leader within image enhancement and is a software partner to leading medical imaging manufacturers all over the world. Its cutting-edge technology helps doctors accurately interpret medical images, a crucial foundation for better diagnosis and treatment.
As an industry pioneer for more than 30 years, ContextVision is significantly investing in R&D to develop new applications of the latest artificial intelligence technologies and expanding into the growing digital pathology market. The release of its first product, supporting the diagnosis of prostate cancer, is planned in the near future.
The company is based in Sweden, with local representation in the U.S., Russia, Japan, China and Korea. ContextVision is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker COV. For more information please visit www.contextvision.com.
