Aiforia’s idea, simplified, means that the eyes of top pathologists in their field are available to all pathologists who use Aiforia’s model.
This model facilitates the differential diagnosis of interstitial lung diseases (diseases of the area between the lung alveoli, which gradually lead to breathing difficulties). In the most difficult cases, a tissue sample from the lung is needed for a proper diagnosis, and the current level of pathology diagnostics has been so poor that the added value of the biopsy has not been sufficient to justify taking it. Now, if the model can differentiate which subtype is involved, each patient can receive the correct treatment. This could be a corticosteroid, a mild immunosuppressant, an immunological antibody, or eventually even a lung transplant. So, who benefits from which treatment depends heavily on the correct diagnosis.
This is just one of probably hundreds or thousands of possible models that improve the accuracy and perhaps also the sensitivity of pathology. Mr. Smith may be productive, but at Mayo, there were probably closer to a hundred pathologists developing these models, each according to their area of expertise.
Pathologists are medical specialists. In addition, they may have a special area of expertise, such as skin diseases, liver diseases, or precisely these lung diseases. This brings top expertise even to areas where there are not enough pathologists or expertise in this particular field. One would expect more of these models to be churned out soon. How long it takes for such a model to be ready before it is in use in healthcare and starts generating revenue for Aiforia through platform sales, I don’t know. Does anyone remember if Jukka has commented on this?