Lucida Medical

Learn more about our investment in Lucida Medical. They provide Pi™ software, a pioneering new AI platform transforming the detection of prostate cancer.

About our investment in Lucida Medical

Image: Pi™ automatically analyses MRI scans to identify suspicious lesions, helping speed up review and avoid missing cancer.

We have invested £350,100 in the pioneering new AI platform, Pi™, with the aim of improving the speed and accuracy of prostate cancer tests. Pi™, Prostate Intelligence™, is an AI and machine learning based software system designed to help radiologists detect and report the presence of prostate cancer lesions from MR scans (MRI). This could help to improve early detection and treatment and reduce the number of cancer-free patients going through more invasive investigative procedures, as well as potentially saving NHS time and money. The software has been developed by Lucida Medical.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in UK men. There are more than 500,000 men living with prostate cancer across the UK[i] and over 50,000 are diagnosed each year[ii]. These numbers are growing and Macmillan estimates that by 2040 there will be 1 million men living with prostate cancer in the UK[iii]. It’s a common misconception that prostate cancer is harmless: while the lowest grades of prostate cancer develop slowly, 12,000 men die from it each year in the UK[iv].

 

 

Pi™ is built using Lucida Medical’s proprietary AI training technology that that has been trained to identify prostate cancer from MRI scans. Preliminary analysis suggests the software has accuracy comparable to expert radiologists, according to results presented at the 2023 International Cancer Imaging Society annual meeting from a diverse group of six NHS hospitals who are participating in the PAIR-1 clinical study [v]. Making the Pi™ software available to radiologists across the NHS could help speed up the work of radiologists and reduce the risk of both missing cancers and unnecessary biopsies.

 

The investment in Lucida Medical is Macmillan Cancer Support’s second from its Innovation Impact Investment Portfolio. Over the next two years, the new portfolio will be investing £3.5 million in start-up businesses that are developing innovative cancer care products and technology. Macmillan will support  Lucida Medical in a number of ways, including assisting the development of Pi™ with its Innovation Community, made up of people living with cancer. 


[i] Macmillan Cancer Support. Cancer prevalence. Accessed January 2024. 

[ii] Cancer Research UK. Prostate cancer incidence. Accessed January 2024 

[iii] Macmillan Cancer Support. Cancer prevalence. Accessed January 2024. 

[iv] Cancer Research UK. Prostate cancer mortality. Accessed January 2024 
[v] Shah A et al, P9 AI for prostate MRI: results from a large multi‑centre, multi‑vendor external validation study. In Proceedings of the 22nd International Cancer Imaging Society Meeting and Annual Teaching Course, Cancer Imaging, (2023) 23:96. Accessed January 2024 

What people think of Lucida Medical

Dawn Lee, Associate Professor of Health Economics and Health Policy at the University of Exeter

 “The prospect of potentially having cancer and needing further tests can be anxiety inducing and very disruptive. Waiting for testing and then for results can be very taxing, not to mention the discomfort, pain and potential long-term consequences from many of these procedures. Lucida’s potential to reduce unnecessary biopsies will be significant for anyone going through this’”, emphasized Dawn Lee a cancer survivor and Associate Professor of Health Economics and Health Policy at the University of Exeter. 
Dr Richard Simcock Consultant Clinical Oncologist and Consultant Advisor for Macmillan.

Professor Richard Simcock, Chief Medical Officer at Macmillan

“Lucida Medical uses artificial intelligence to support radiologists to interpret MRI scans. It has the potential to avoid thousands of unnecessary biopsies, alleviating pressure on the NHS workforce and budgets. For patients this would mean avoiding anxiety, unpleasant treatments and occasionally dangerous side-effects,” said Professor Richard Simcock.  

Professor Evis Sala, Chief Medical Officer and co-founder of Lucida Medical

 “We seek to give every radiologist technology that can precisely identify significant cancers, allowing more patients to benefit from early detection and treatment. At the same time, the accuracy of Pi™ could help reduce the numbers of prostate cancer-free men who undergo painful, potentially avoidable investigations, saving the NHS costs, helping address the shortage of radiologists, and cutting waiting lists,” commented Professor Evis Sala.
Rachel Higham wearing black shirt and black jacket smiling at camera

Rachel Higham, CIO at WPP, Macmillan Trustee and Chair of its Impact Investment Advisory Group

“Artificial intelligence is already transforming advertising and other industries everywhere. And we’re delighted to invest in Lucida Medical to make that technology accessible to more radiologists within the NHS. Lucida Medical convinced us on its potential to support radiologists to detect cancer, avoid unnecessary biopsies and help save costs for the NHS during a time of crisis,” added Rachel Higham.