Bengaluru: Artificial intelligence-based Indian health-tech company Niramai announced that it will develop an artificial intelligence (AI)-based computer-aided software for controlling the spread of River Blindness.
Niramai will leverage its innovative Thermalytix™ technology to detect the presence of live adult worms of Onchocerciasis which causes river blindness and significant disability. Thermalytix™ is currently being applied to early-stage breast cancer detection. This innovative non-invasive detection method is expected to help assess the efficacy of new drugs being developed to control the disease by killing the adult worms, potentially accelerating the elimination of river blindness, which has today infects ~17 million people in Africa. This project has been made possible through support from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Niramai has developed a novel technique called Thermalytix™, an automated diagnostic tool, which combines thermal imaging with artificial intelligence which is being used to detect early stage breast cancer in many hospitals today. Dr Geetha Manjunath, CEO & CTO, Niramai, said, “We are very excited to collaborate with Gates Foundation to extend the application of our innovative technique to areas other than breast cancer. Successful completion of this research project will demonstrate a breakthrough result of Thermalytix™ being a new way of sensing many abnormalities in human body in a non-invasive, radiation-free and accurate way, even beyond cancer!”
