Press Release: Kheiron Medical Technologies wins government grant funding to accelerate our efforts so that Mia can help when screening services start up again
Today we had the exciting news that Kheiron’s bid for an InnovateUK Government grant was successful. The grant call was for business-led innovation in response to COVID-19. Our bid is for a six month evaluation of our breast screening AI, MiaTM, in clinical settings with two existing partners.
This is to determine the best use of Mia to increase the automation of breast screening services and tackle the Covid-19 backlog, while maintaining patient safety and the standard of care.
Our CEO and co-founder Peter Kecskemethy commented:
“The current pause in breast screening services because of Covid-19 is putting women’s lives at risk. There is an expected delay of up to 12 months before normal screening resumes but we believe our breast screening AI solution, Mia, can help clinicians process the backlog and be a trusted and reliable support for NHS breast screening services. This grant will enable us to accelerate our efforts so that Mia can help when screening services start up again.”
Why screening matters
In the UK, NHS breast screening services have been stopped because of Covid-19 – In England no invitations are being sent out and Scotland, Wales and NI have stopped officially. It is expected to take 6-27 months to process the backlog of screening cases.
Statistics show that survival rates for women with screen detected breast cancer are significantly better than without. So every day, week and month that passes with screening services on hold and invitations not being sent, puts women at risk of having their breast cancer detected later.
It is therefore extremely important that screening services resume as quickly as possible and we believe that our AI breast screening solution may be able to help radiologists process the backlog of cases.
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