Lucida Medical develops software based on artificial intelligence methods (machine learning and image processing) to enable radiologists to find cancer accurately, consistently, and quickly using MRI. Innovators at Lucida Medical developed Prostate Intelligence (PI™) to support the diagnosis of prostate cancer in patients.
Lucida Medical wanted to demonstrate the difference that PI™ would make in the diagnosis pathway
The Technology
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men across the developed world, affecting almost 1.5 million men worldwide each year and killing nearly 400,000. Numbers of new cases are set to double by 2040.
In recent years, MRI has transformed the way that we diagnose and treat prostate cancer. But the demand for medical imaging is growing far faster than the radiology workforce: the UK has a shortfall of over 1,900 radiologists, 30% of the workforce.
Further, major studies indicate that we need to improve how we diagnose prostate cancer.
Lucida Medical develops solutions like Pi to give clinicians the tools to detect cancer quickly and accurately. Their vision is that Pi, together with MRI and other clinical data, can help detect every cancer as early and efficiently as possible while enabling those who are cancer-free to avoid costly and painful investigations and procedures.
Health Tech Enterprise (HTE) was commissioned to deliver a health economics analysis including a full literature review and create a fully interactive model that integrated a cost-effectiveness analysis from an NHS perspective. Health and cost outcomes were simulated for a patient cohort over the course of their lifetime and outcomes were modelled in terms of cost and Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs).
Outcomes
The cost-effectiveness analysis showed that the innovation improved the diagnosis of prostate cancer and generated a statistically significant cost saving for the NHS. The interactive model allowed Lucida Medical to model different alternative scenarios and patient sub-groups, while the infographic became core material for Lucida’s promotional market access material.
This is what Antony Rix, CEO Lucida Medical had to say about the outcomes of the project, and why he would recommend HTE’s health economics service.
“Evelyne and her colleagues did a tremendous job to create a powerful model of current clinical practice in prostate cancer and how we could improve it, giving us insight into the dynamics of the NHS’s needs as well as strong evidence of benefit.” Dr Antony Rix, CEO, Lucida Medical
