Ibex and Alverno Laboratories Sign Multi-Year, Multi-Tissue Expansion Agreement of AI for Cancer Diagnosis

Alverno Strengthens Its Diagnostics Portfolio and Deploys Ibex's Suite of AI Solutions, Bringing Improved Cancer Care for Patients Across Its Midwest U.S. Network

HAMMOND, Indiana and TEL AVIV, Israel, March 9, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Alverno Laboratories, a provider of high-quality diagnostic testing services and one of the largest integrated laboratory networks in the United States, and Ibex Medical Analytics, the leader in AI-powered cancer diagnostics, today announced a new agreement to expand the deployment of Ibex's Galen™ suite of Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions to the entire Alverno network across Illinois and Indiana. The deployment includes AI-powered solutions for cancer diagnosis across multiple tissue types and will support Alverno pathologists in providing the utmost quality of care for their patients.  

Under the new expansion agreement, Alverno will make Ibex's solutions available to all pathologists in its network, which includes more than 30 hospital laboratories and touches over eight million patients' lives per year across Indiana and Illinois. Building on its earlier investment in digital pathology infrastructure, Alverno is among the first laboratories in the U.S. to digitize its pathology services, harnessing the high-throughput capabilities of the Philips IntelliSite Pathology Solution, and is the first to offer this AI-supported cancer diagnosis in the Midwest region of the United States.

"Alverno will expand the reach of Ibex's AI technology across our network, providing the most innovative tools to our team of pathologists. With an increasing demand for high-quality cancer testing, Alverno continues to invest in technology to support our growth while remaining focused on high quality patient care," said Sam Terese, CEO & President of Alverno Laboratories. "Our partnership with Ibex enables Alverno to offer a new level of care to the physicians who treat their patients in our communities, and that is aligned with our mission to continually improve the delivery of quality diagnostic data and laboratory service to our partners and caregivers."

Ibex's Galen suite of solutions will support Alverno pathologists in a variety of tasks during routine review of breast, prostate, and gastric biopsies, including case prioritization, AI-powered cancer detection and reporting, and help optimize IHC workflows and drive other productivity-enhancing tools. This implementation of AI on a large scale across the entire laboratory network has the potential to improve pathologists' productivity and user experience, reduce operational costs and improve overall service levels. Galen is the most widely deployed AI technology in pathology and is used as part of everyday clinical practice at laboratories, hospitals and health systems worldwide. Galen demonstrated outstanding outcomes across multiple clinical studies performed on various tissue types and diagnostic workflows^1,2,3,4,5.

"We look forward to our continued collaboration with Alverno, providing its team of expert pathologists with the most advanced AI-powered solutions and supporting diverse patient communities across rural, suburban and large-metro populations," said Justin McCarthy, Head of U.S. sales at Ibex Medical Analytics. "With over 100,000 new cancer cases expected in the Midwest region in 2023⁶, Ibex is committed to advancing the implementation of AI in pathology to support the growing demand for quality diagnostics."

About Alverno Laboratories

Alverno Laboratories, located in Hammond, IN, provides clinical and anatomic pathology services and testing to communities throughout Illinois and Indiana. Alverno's focus is providing the best patient care utilizing advanced technologies such as digital pathology, AI, Precision Medicine/Next-Gen Sequencing, and complex automation. As a joint venture between Franciscan Alliance and Ascension Illinois, Alverno Laboratories operates 31 hospital laboratories and provides laboratory testing to over 2,500 physician offices, free standing urgent care facilities, and research organizations. Innovation is at the center of laboratory operations as demonstrated by the acquisition of one of the largest digital pathology networks in the country. Digital pathology, coupled with artificial intelligence technology, will decrease turnaround times of oncology cases and enhance outcomes. Advanced automation in microbiology rapidly increases the diagnosis of bloodborne infections that can lead to Sepsis. For additional company information, please visit https://alvernolabs.com/ and follow us on LinkedIn.

About Ibex Medical Analytics

Ibex Medical Analytics is transforming cancer diagnostics with world-leading clinical grade AI-powered solutions for pathology. Empowering physicians and supporting pathologists, Ibex is on a mission to provide accurate, timely and personalized cancer diagnosis for every patient. Ibex's Galen™ is the first and most widely deployed AI-powered platform in pathology. Pathologists worldwide use Galen™ as part of their everyday routine to improve the accuracy of cancer diagnosis, implement comprehensive quality control measures, reduce turnaround times and boost productivity with more efficient workflows. For additional company information, please visit https://ibex-ai.com/and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

The Galen™ suite includes solutions which are for Research Use Only (RUO) in the United States and not cleared by the FDA. Multiple Galen solutions are CE marked (IVDD and IVDR) and registered with the UK MHRA. For more information, including indication for use and regulatory approval in other countries, contact Ibex Medical Analytics.

Ibex Media Contact
Nechama Rosengarten
FINN Partners
[email protected]
+1-551-444-0784

Alverno Media Contacts 
Sierra Breeden
Director of Marketing and Customer Experience
[email protected] 

[1] Pantanowitz et al., An artificial intelligence algorithm for prostate cancer diagnosis in whole slide images of core needle biopsies: a blinded clinical validation and deployment study, THE LANCET Digital Health Aug 2020

[2] Sandbank et al., Validation and real-world clinical application of an artificial intelligence algorithm for breast cancer detection in biopsies; npj Breast Cancer 8, 129 (2022)

[3] Comperat et al., Clinical Level AI-Based Solution for Primary Diagnosis and Reporting of Prostate Biopsies in Routine Use: A Prospective Reader Study, European Congress of Pathology 2021

[4] Raoux et al., Novel AI-Based Solution for Supporting Primary Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer Increases the Accuracy and Efficiency of Reporting in Clinical Routine, USCAP 2021

[5] Sandbank et al., Validation and Clinical Deployment of an AI-Based Solution for Detection of Gastric Adenocarcinoma and Helicobacter pylori in Gastric Biopsies, USCAP 2022

[6] American Cancer Society

SOURCE Ibex Medical Analytics; Alverno Laboratories