HOLLAND, Mich., May 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- An international
group of leading experts and advocates in the fight against
idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), fibrosing interstitial lung
diseases (ILDs), and other respiratory diseases including
emphysematous conditions announced today the formation of the
Open Source Imaging Consortium (OSIC). This global,
not-for-profit organization is a cooperative and open source effort
between academia, industry and philanthropy to enable rapid
advances in the detection and diagnosis of these conditions through
digital imaging and machine learning.
"OSIC was created on behalf of the countless patients around the
world living with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and other
largely-ignored lung diseases," said Elizabeth Estes, executive director,
OSIC. "By bringing together the world's 'best in class' in
an open source, collaborative effort, we can collectively speed
diagnosis, aid prognosis, and ultimately allow doctors to treat
patients more efficiently and effectively."
OSIC's goal is to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of
ILD research by bringing together radiologists, clinicians, and
computational scientists from around the world to develop digital
imaging biomarkers for accurate imaging-based diagnosis, prognosis
and prediction of therapy response. After working together to
create a rich repository of approximately 15,000 anonymized image
scans and clinical data (1,500 by the end of 2019), OSIC will use
machine learning to develop algorithms and then promote the
incorporation of those algorithms into commercial analysis
tools.
The organization's founding partners include Boehringer
Ingelheim, one of the world's leading research-driven
pharmaceutical companies; Siemens Healthineers, one of
the world's largest suppliers to the healthcare industry and a
trendsetter in medical imaging, laboratory diagnostics, and health
IT; CSL Behring, one of the world's largest biotechnology
companies, driven by its promise to help patients lead full lives;
and FLUIDDA, the world leader in the field of Functional
Respiratory Imaging (FRI) research and development. All of OSIC's
partners will work in pre-competitive areas for mutual benefit and,
most importantly, the benefit of patients.
"The current methods for identifying ILDs can be challenging
and, by incorporating machine learning technology into the process,
there is great opportunity for improvement," said Dr.
Kay Tetzlaff, therapeutic area
head medicine, respiratory and biosimilars, Boehringer
Ingelheim. "Using digital biomarkers to predict outcome and
response to therapy is key to precision medicine and drug
development. OSIC's open science model is the best approach to
speed up progress and ultimately deliver benefits to radiologists,
health care systems, pharmaceutical companies, medical technology
vendors, academic institutions and, most importantly,
patients."
"OSIC is an excellent example of the way that new, high-impact
solutions for patients can be developed when pharmaceutical
companies, hospitals, and medical technology join forces," said
Christian Wolfrum, head of
new business development, Siemens Healthineers. "Today, it
frequently takes up to two years after symptoms first appear before
a patient receives the correct diagnosis and starts the right
therapy. By applying and expanding our expertise in digitalization
and artificial intelligence, we can work together to significantly
shorten this period."
"We're proud to join the OSIC collaboration, a unique,
industry-leading initiative," said Lars
Groenke, global clinical development lead, respiratory,
CSL Behring. "The partnership is a positive step
towards achieving earlier and more accurate diagnosis algorithms in
clinical practice, and that will directly benefit patients and
ultimately change lives."
"Medical images hold a lot of secrets that can now be uncovered
using the newest technologies," said Jan
De Backer, CEO, FLUIDDA. "Through initiatives
like OSIC, we expect to significantly accelerate ILD drug
development and improve patient care in the near term."
OSIC is steered by its Core Science Leadership Team, a diverse
group of leading subject matter experts responsible for driving
progress toward the organization's goals. Members of the team
include Dr. David Barber,
University College London (computational science lead);
Dr. Simon Walsh, National Heart
and Lung Institute Imperial College, London (radiology lead) and Dr.
Kevin Brown, National Jewish
Health (pulmonology lead). OSIC's Medical &
Science Advisory Board (MSAB) will provide guidance for all
scientific and technical work, and the organization's board of
directors will serve as an executive function to monitor progress
and ensure advancement is met.
Additional member partners, collaborators and contributors are
welcome and encouraged. For more information regarding commitment
benefits and opportunities, please visit www.osicild.org and
contact Elizabeth Estes at
eestes@osicild.org.
About Boehringer Ingelheim
Improving the health of
humans and animals is the goal of the research-driven
pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim. The focus in doing so
is on diseases for which no satisfactory treatment option exists to
date. The company therefore concentrates on developing innovative
therapies that can extend patients' lives. In animal health,
Boehringer Ingelheim stands for advanced prevention.
Family-owned since it was established in 1885, Boehringer
Ingelheim is one of the pharmaceutical industry's top 20 companies.
Some 50,000 employees create value through innovation daily for the
three business areas – human pharmaceuticals, animal health, and
biopharmaceuticals. In 2018, Boehringer Ingelheim achieved net
sales of around 17.5 billion euros.
R&D expenditure of almost 3.2 billion
euros, corresponded to 18.1 per cent of net sales.
As a family-owned company, Boehringer Ingelheim plans in
generations and focuses on long-term success. The company therefore
aims at organic growth from its own resources with simultaneous
openness to partnerships and strategic alliances in research. In
everything it does, Boehringer Ingelheim naturally adopts
responsibility towards mankind and the environment.
More information about Boehringer Ingelheim can be found on
www.boehringer-ingelheim.com or in our annual report:
http://annualreport.boehringer-ingelheim.com.
About Siemens Healthineers
Siemens
Healthineers enables healthcare providers worldwide to
increase value by empowering them on their journey toward expanding
precision medicine, transforming care delivery, improving the
patient experience, and digitalizing healthcare. A leader in
medical technology, Siemens Healthineers is constantly innovating
its portfolio of products and services in its core areas of
diagnostic and therapeutic imaging, and in laboratory diagnostics
and molecular medicine. Siemens Healthineers is also actively
developing its digital health services and enterprise services.
In fiscal 2018, which ended on September
30, 2018, Siemens Healthineers generated revenue of €13.4
billion and adjusted profit of €2.3 billion and has about 50,000
employees worldwide. Further information is available at
www.siemens-healthineers.com.
About CSL Behring
CSL Behring is a global
biotherapeutics leader driven by its promise to save lives. Focused
on serving patients' needs by using the latest technologies, we
develop and deliver innovative therapies that are used to treat
coagulation disorders, primary immune deficiencies, hereditary
angioedema, inherited respiratory disease, and neurological
disorders. The company's products are also used in cardiac surgery,
organ transplantation, burn treatment, and to prevent hemolytic
disease of the newborn.
CSL Behring operates one of the world's largest plasma
collection networks, CSL Plasma. The parent company, CSL Limited,
headquartered in Melbourne,
Australia, employs more than 22,000 people, and delivers its
life-saving therapies to people in more than 60 countries. For
inspiring stories about the promise of biotechnology, visit Vita
CSLBehring.com/vita and follow us on
Twitter.com/CSLBehring.
About FLUIDDA
FLUIDDA is the world leader in the field
of Functional Respiratory Imaging (FRI) research and development.
The company's proprietary FRI technology offers pharmaceutical
companies and healthcare providers a unique entry point into
personalized medicine for patients suffering from respiratory
diseases and sleep-related breathing disorders. Implementation of
FRI in the clinical practice creates significant added value to the
current healthcare standard in the respiratory field.
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SOURCE Open Source Imaging Consortium (OSIC)