In health, treating cancer is the challenge of the century. Equipping the oncology sector with the most powerful tools is no picnic either. Having encountered too many closed doors in recent years, Montreal-based artificial intelligence company Imagia today announced its intention to merge with Vancouver-based Canexia Health to create a North American heavyweight better able to break into this Marlet.
Located in the heart of the City of Artificial Intelligence, in the Mile-Ex district of Montreal, Imagia has developed in recent years advanced medical imaging solutions that manage to detect very early in their development tissues and cancer cells. More recently, she created an IT platform allowing better sharing of medical data between hospitals to accelerate clinical research.
Canexia Health, for its part, has developed a technique for identifying cancer using a simple blood sample, rather than using a more complex biopsy. The company also relies on biomarking to offer tailor-made and individual treatments according to the patient’s state of health.
From now on, all this expertise will be pooled within a new company called Imagia-Canexia Health. It will have its head office in Montreal and will be managed by the current CEO of Imagia, Geralyn Ochab. Once the merger is complete, the company will have approximately 90 employees in offices located in Montreal, Vancouver and San Diego, California.
A new North American player
“We are suddenly becoming a Canadian oncology specialist who has unique expertise in offering specific treatments for each patient, rather than providing a unified solution for the entire North American health sector, explains in an interview with the Duty Geralyn Ochab. Our goal is to expand access to this type of treatment to the 85% of the North American population who do not live near major hospitals and universities. »
Obviously, cutting-edge oncology research in North America is highly concentrated in certain large urban centres. Digital technologies applied to health, such as computer vision — generally associated with what is called artificial intelligence — also remain nestled near these research poles.
At Imagia, since the creation of the company in 2015, we have struggled to establish ourselves beyond a limited number of specialized centers, such as university hospital centers affiliated with various universities, including McGill, Laval University and the University of Pennsylvania, USA. At the other end of the continent, Canexia admits to having experienced the same situation: difficult to widen access to cutting-edge tools when everything remains concentrated in university centres…
“We are now setting ourselves three objectives: to increase our influence throughout North America, to continue to invest in improving our technology and above all to offer a commercial solution that will be accessible to all players in the sector. of health in Canada and the United States,” adds Ms.me Ochab.
Financial boost
The new Montreal-Vancouver entity will immediately receive new financial assistance in the form of a $20 million financing round to help it complete the transaction and pursue its development.
Backers include investors already involved in either venture, including Hong Kong firm PacBridge Capital and Desjardins Capital. The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), through its Women in Technology Fund, is also on board.
Of course, expanding our customer base will be important. We believe we can substantially increase our revenues quickly.
“Twinning two advanced technology companies that promise more affordable and more direct access to cancer treatment for patients no matter where they are is exactly the kind of project we want to invest in,” said one. BDC Women in Technology Fund leader Michelle Scarborough.
This injection of new capital represents “a vote of confidence” from the financial partners of Imagia-Canexia Health, assures Geralyn Ochab. The company refuses to disclose the state of its income and its financial situation, but it nevertheless indicates that it has commercial agreements with some twenty hospitals and at least four pharmaceutical companies.
“It is certain that expanding our client list will be important. We think we can substantially increase our income quickly,” assures the CEO of Imagia. It intends to target decision-makers at all levels of the North American health system to achieve this. The health sector is rather fragmented, both in Canada and in the United States, where it is sometimes the hospitals themselves, if not state or provincial officials, or even the federal government sometimes the last word.