Aignostics and Virchow Laboratories collaborate to offer AI-powered pathology in China

june 5, 2023

Aignostics, a global leader in AI-powered pathology, and Virchow Laboratories, a leading Chinese pathology lab chain, today announced the launch of a joint collaboration to advance the use of AI-powered pathology in China in both research and clinical routine.

Under the collaboration, Aignostics will deploy its platform in China at Virchow Laboratories’ sites to enable the local AI-powered testing of samples in accordance with Chinese regulations.

The initial focus of the collaboration is on research services for biopharma, such as supporting prevalence studies, quality control and biomarker research. Here, Virchow Laboratories provides assay development and staining services, leveraging its proprietary biobank of samples. Aignostics on the other hand provides AI solutions and expertise for the analysis of the stained tissue samples and corresponding metadata. The collaboration covers H&E, IHC, and NGS analysis.

Virchow Laboratories and Aignostics are also building up joint workflows to provide AI-powered pathology to local CROs and Virchow Laboratories’ hospital network for clinical diagnostic services. These offerings will be launched in 2024.

“We are excited to have found the perfect partner for entering the Chinese market. Virchow Laboratories has a strong local presence and management team in China, paired with German founding partners with close ties to Charité Berlin and other German medical universities. This enables us to collaborate closely and effectively. We consider China a strategic priority with high potential, and think this collaboration is uniquely positioned for success.”, said Viktor Matyas, CEO of Aignostics.

“We have followed Aignostics since its beginnings and are impressed by the development and technical capabilities of the team. We are convinced that pairing our strong local presence and capabilities with Aignostics’ AI-powered platform will create a market-leading offering. In addition, it will contribute to improve and speed-up histo-diagnostic counteracting the lack of pathologists in China.”, said Prof. Manfred Dietel, founder of Virchow Laboratories.

About Aignostics

Aignostics specializes in AI-powered pathology, uniquely combining proprietary technology, its pathologist network, and comprehensive access to key data modalities to build bespoke AI models for its global pharma and biotech client base. These AI models can deliver valuable insights into disease biology from tissue samples, such as novel biomarkers and drug response characteristics.

Aignostics formally started in 2018 in the Digital Health Accelerator program of the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), based on joint research by Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, one of Europe’s largest university hospitals, led by Prof. Frederick Klauschen, and TU Berlin, led by Prof. Klaus-Robert Müller. In early 2020, Aignostics was spun-out of Charité. To date, Aignostics has raised close to €20million in funding from leading VC investors and has offices in Berlin, Germany, and Boston, U.S.

www.aignostics.com

About Virchow Laboratories

Virchow Laboratories Group was founded in 2015 by Prof. Manfred Dietel and Markus Fehr with the goal of strengthening Sino-German cooperation in healthcare and biotechnology as well as introducing advanced pathology technologies and projects into China.

Virchow Laboratories Group was built on the blueprint of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin using the same devices, SOP´s and QM/QC. The group processes over 100,000 cases per year for more than 150 hospitals in China across multiple locations.