AstraZeneca expands AI lung screening to public hospitals in Malaysia
AstraZeneca has partnered with Institut Kanser Negara, a center of excellence for cancer care in Malaysia, to integrate AI medical imaging into early lung cancer screening in government clinics and hospitals.
WHY IT MATTERS
Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers in Malaysia, causing approximately 19 deaths per 100,000 people. It is said that 8 out of 10 cases are diagnosed in Phase 4, “making early screening critical to expedite diagnosis and treatment for patients”, according to AstraZeneca Malaysia.
The introduction of AI can scale up early cancer screening at the population level. This is expected to not only improve people’s chances of survival, but also help reduce the financial burden of cancer on the country’s healthcare system.
THE GREATER CONTEXT
AstraZeneca Malaysia and IKN are working together under Projek Saringan Awal Paru-Paru (SAPU), which aims to promote the adoption of AI imaging in government healthcare facilities.
The initiative represents the third phase of AstraZeneca’s flagship early lung cancer screening program, Lung Ambition Alliance (LAA). It was launched in 2021 and for the first time equipped private primary care clinics under the Qualitas Group with Qure.ai‘s imaging software for performing lung cancer screening. The following year, the second phase of the program included three private tertiary hospitals where patients were referred for further diagnosis using a low-dose CT scan.
Over the past three years, the LAA has screened almost 19,000 patients and referred more than 400 high-risk patients to hospitals for further testing.
This year, Projek SAPU will provide AI technology as part of a pilot study in selected government hospitals and clinics. Sandbox sites have also been identified to collect data on the project’s outcomes, which will be used to understand Malaysia’s local landscape and demographic syndromes.
The project also goes beyond lung cancer screening; it is also intended to screen for other lung-related diseases, such as COVID-19, tuberculosis and pulmonary fibrosis.
ON THE RECORD
Commenting on their latest partnership, AstraZeneca Malaysia President Vinod Narayanan said: “This is a critical first step to level the field and ensure the broader population has access to this AI-driven lung care screening.”
“Early screening can improve survival rates, especially for lung cancer, and this can therefore alleviate the high financial costs of cancer to our national healthcare system. Our collaboration with AstraZeneca is a positive step towards reducing the burden of NCDs in healthcare. the country through early diagnosis,” IKN Director Dr. Mohd Anis Haron also said.