Augere Medical

Oslo, Norway · ≈19 employees · augere.md

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most prevalent cancer forms with close to 2 million new cases per year worldwide. Each year approximately 800.000 patients die of their CRC. The gold standard for diagnosis of CRC is colonoscopy, targeting polyps, abnormal tissue growths that may evolve into cancer. Early disease detection has a significant impact on mortality from colorectal cancer, going from a high 5-year survival probability of 90% if detected early, to a low 10-30% 5-year survival probability in later stages. Studies have shown that up to 40% of polyps can be missed during colonoscopies. Large variations in detection rates are also observed between physicians. To remedy the variability in detection rates, there is a high medical need for tools to improve detection of polyps in colonoscopy. Such tools can save lives and reduce the treatment costs for hospitals and society by preventing CRC cases due to early detection. Based on more than 10 years of research conducted at Simula Research Laboratory, we are developing, documenting and commercializing an AI-powered digital health system that can detect polyps in real-time during a colonoscopy examination without interruption of the procedure. The device is connected to the video output of standard endoscopy equipment and provides feedback on visible lesions to the performing doctor overlaid on their examination screen. Augere's vision is to harness the currently untapped potential of endoscopic video and augment the info