A French-American AI start-up backed by Google is in talks with a number of London hospitals to trial its AI system, which can study clinical data to help develop more effective drugs. Owkin, which was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in New York, uses a predictive algorithm to identify biomarkers associated with cancer. The company has already helped discover targets for drugs in mesothelioma, a cancer linked to asbestos exposure, but it says its technology can be used for much more. The start-up has raised money from the investment arm of Alphabet, Google Ventures, as well as funds backed by financial services firm Fidelity. To date, it has raised $18.1m, according to Crunchbase. Parker Moss, chief business officer at Owkin, confirmed that the company is “currently in advanced discussions with three large London academic medical centres” to strike a deal that would see it harness hospital data on patients. “In those relationships, we will be revenue sharing with the hospitals,” he said. “The important features of our relationship with all of our hospitals, including the NHS, is [that] we pay the hospitals, we don't take money from them, and we never remove or even see any patient data so we totally protect patient privacy.”
Owkin is working with the NHS on a plan to use its AI-based system on the health service's medical records. The Google-backed firm, which uses predictive algorithms to identify biomarkers associated with cancer, would study hospital patient data in an effort to develop more effective drugs. In addition to AI, Google has also been investing heavily into machine learning and deep learning.