FUJIFILM Healthcare Europe And IBEX Announce Partnership To Streamline Workflows And Enhance Diagnostic Capabilities In Digital Pathology

Supporting Pathology services with improved efficiency and productivity to benefit patient care.

FUJIFILM Healthcare Europe, the global leader in Digital Pathology software¹ and Ibex Medical Analytics (Ibex), a leader in AI-powered cancer diagnostics in Pathology, are delighted to announce a formal partnership to support efficient and accurate cancer diagnosis. Integrating Ibex’s AI platform with Fujifilm’s SYNAPSE Pathology solution is expected to allow users across the world to optimise laboratory workflows and reduce turnaround times.

The aim of this new partnership is to help address the pressure Pathologists face with the global shortage of experts², as well as the growing number of cancer patients³ and turnaround times expected on healthcare practitioners. FUJIFILM Healthcare Europe and Ibex jointly provide interoperability of our solutions, with the aim to enhance the diagnostic workflows alleviating some of these pressures.

Pathologists play a crucial role in cancer diagnosis and treatment. Over 35 million new cancer cases are predicted in 2050, a 77% increase from the estimated 20 million cases in 2022⁴. With the demand for Pathology services continuing to rise, in contrast, the number of Pathologists is at an all-time low. Cancer Research UK forecast a 5% increase in Histology slides per annum, with a 47% workforce increase required to meet the predicted Histology workload in 2029⁵ in the UK alone. This was the highest requirement of the seven cancer supporting professions investigated.

Ibex’s AI solutions have shown to improve reporting efficiency and drive productivity by up to 37%⁶. The SYNAPSE Pathology solution has been proven to deliver digital images for diagnosis 1.7 hours faster than glass slides⁷, while increasing collaboration and communication. The SYNAPSE Pathology solution has an open-platform, vendor-neutral approach to support Pathology services with an efficient, robust and cost-effective proposition. When AI is added to Pathology digital solutions, turnaround times for Prostate cancer diagnosis can be reduced from 1.8 days to 9.4 minutes when compared to the standard of care using a microscope⁸.

Launching first at UK reference site, North Bristol NHS Trust and rolling out across the further UK customers, this partnership will allow laboratories to benefit from the portfolio of Ibex AI-powered tools for prostate, breast and gastric cancer diagnostics.

Dr Nirav Gandhi, AI advocate within Histopathology and one of Fujifilm’s customers had this to say on the new partnership and the impact that AI can make into the profession:

"The integration of Digital Pathology and AI tools into cancer diagnostics marks a transformative shift in our field. These technologies significantly enhance our ability to analyse tissue samples with greater speed, precision, and consistency. Digital slides allow for faster sharing and collaboration among specialists, which is crucial for complex cases. AI algorithms, trained on vast datasets, can assist in detecting patterns and anomalies that may be subtle or easily overlooked by the human eye, acting as a powerful second reader. This not only increases diagnostic accuracy but also reduces variability between pathologists. Ultimately, these advancements help us deliver more timely and accurate diagnoses, improve patient safety, and support better treatment decisions. For patients, this means faster answers and a more confident path forward during some of the most critical moments of their lives." – Dr Nirav Gandhi FRCPath, Consultant Cellular Pathologist, University Hospitals of Derby and Burton

Ibex’s AI-powered solutions detect cancer and more than a hundred other diagnostic features in multiple tissue types, offering clinically proven accuracy, enhanced efficiency and an improved user experience. Their solutions have been developed from rich datasets from multiple Pathology institutes, with multiple AI algorithms trained by teams of expert Pathologists using deep learning technologies.

Fujifilm customers utilising the SYNAPSE Pathology solution in conjunction with Ibex AI can now expect to benefit from reduced error rates, increased operational efficiency, increased diagnostic accuracy, reduced turnaround times and improved user experience. This is achieved from streamlined image analysis, remote collaboration, and faster diagnosis, enabling new opportunities for research and clinical collaboration.

While the adoption of Digital Pathology for primary diagnosis is estimated to be less than 10% in the US⁹ and 23% in Europe and Asia¹⁰, between this partnership between two global leaders in their respective fields, we hope to drive adoption and implementation of the solution throughout the world.

“This new partnership for Fujifilm and Ibex helps to strengthen not only our solution offerings, but most importantly to support Pathologists to deliver better patient care with faster, more accurate diagnosis. FUJIFILM Healthcare Europe is committed to driving innovation that empowers clinicians with faster, more accurate diagnoses, ultimately improving patient outcomes. By fostering strong partnerships and expanding our Digital Pathology footprint, we aim to shape a more connected, efficient, and data-driven future for pathology across the UK, Europe, and beyond.” – Marc Newman, Head of Commercialisation, FUJIFILM Healthcare Europe

"Ibex is committed to ensuring our customers can easily integrate our AI tools into their diagnostic workflows, helping them to provide accurate and timely cancer diagnoses to their patients. We're thrilled to partner with Fujifilm and provide streamlined workflows to North Bristol NHS and customers around the world." 
- Stuart Shand, Chief Commercial Officer, Ibex Medical Analytics  

We look forward to sharing more in the future around our cloud-first, AI-enabled solutions that support Healthcare Professionals from diagnosis to treatment, all working together to give our patients more clarity, while being proudly by your side.

References

^1. Fitt, Imogen. “Digital Pathology – World 2024.” Signify Research, 13 Sept. 2024, https://www.signifyresearch.net/market-intelligence/digital-pathology-world-2024/

^2. Royal College of Pathologists. “The Pathology Workforce.” https://www.rcpath.org/discover-pathology/public-affairs/the-pathology-workforce.html

^3. World Health Organization ‘’Global cancer burden growing, amidst mounting need for services’’ 1 Sept. 2024, https://www.who.int/news/item/01-02-2024-global-cancer-burden-growing--amidst-mounting-need-for-services

^4. World Health Organization ‘’Global cancer burden growing, amidst mounting need for services’’ 1 Sept. 2024, https://www.who.int/news/item/01-02-2024-global-cancer-burden-growing--amidst-mounting-need-for-services

^5. Cancer Research UK. “Estimating the cost of growing the NHS cancer workforce in England by 2029). October 2020.

^6. Information provided by Ibex AI: Raoux, et al. Modern Pathology (2021) 34 (suppl 2): 598-599. Ibex AI is RUO in the US.

^7. Lujan G, Kellough DA, Frankel WL, Chhibber NN, Parwani AV, Chen W, Li Z, Lombardo A, Walsh J, Lloyd M. Faster Than Glass: A Digital Pathology Workflow Unlocks Major Time-Savings. United States & Canadian Academy of Pathology’s (USCAP) 111th Annual Meeting. Los Angeles, CA. March 19-24, 2022.

^8. Information provided by Ibex AI. Raoux et al. Modern Pathology (2021) 34 (suppl 2): 598-599.

^9. Bychkov, A., and Fukuoka, J. Evaluation of the global supply of pathologists. United States & Canadian Academy of Pathology 111th Annual Meeting. March 2022.

^10. Lloyd M. Going digital, turning green. The Pathologist. 25 September 2024.