Swiss firm RetinAI Medical AG announces a multi-year collaboration with Novartis Pharma AG under which RetinAI’s IT solutions and artificial intelligence tools shall be employed to support multiple projects in ophthalmology and digital health. Both companies have previously worked successfully on pilot projects in this disease area.

The first project under the new Master Agreement will support a multi-centre international clinical study involving patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD). The study is designed to investigate the influence of optical coherence tomography (OCT) image solutions using artificial intelligence (AI) on the assessment of disease activity. The study will be conducted in several clinical centres in numerous European countries and Canada, involving more than 500 patients.

For this study, RetinAI will provide its CE-marked web-based software platform, RetinAI Discovery®, a data management platform to efficiently process data at scale across imaging platforms and devices. Discovery® is used today by professionals to navigate imaging data, compute imaging biomarkers and track changes over time for some of the most common forms of eye diseases. RetinAI’s tools also support diagnostic analyses and clinical workflows as well as patient monitoring & adherence to treatment.

Dirk Sauer, Global Development Head, Ophthalmology Franchise, Novartis Pharma AG, sees RetinAI as a strategic partner for advancing eye care through digital innovation: “With previous projects, RetinAI’s services have enabled us to enhance and more efficiently structure retina scans and data collected from our clinical studies. Together with RetinAI, we are working on end-to-end solutions to generate swift and comprehensive disease insights to better treat patients and improve patient outcomes.”

Dr Carlos Ciller, CEO, RetinAI, commented: “RetinAI is excited to expand and intensify our partnership with Novartis who is one of the top pharma companies in ophthalmology with deep competence, dedication and focus on digital innovation in eye care. We believe using RetinAI’s technologies to support patients treated with ophthalmic medications will provide enhanced disease insights and create opportunities for more precise treatments.”