Sophia Genetics has launched an artificial-intelligence-powered tool that creates virtual copies of patients, known as digital twins, that could one day be used to help doctors test the potential of cancer drugs before giving them to patients.
The medtech company’s “Sophia DDM Digital Twins” platform uses an individual’s “unique clinical, biological, imaging and genomic data” to generate a virtual replica of a patient and their disease, according to a press release.
Once the digital twin is created, it can show in real time how a patient might respond to a particular drug, how their disease trajectory might change or what their long-term survival might look like, according to the company.
The AI-driven platform taps into Sophia’s large pool of de-identified cancer data from patients all over the world and adapts as new data become available.
“Cancer care is constantly evolving, and static snapshots are no longer enough,” Sophia co-founder and CEO Jurgi Camblong said in a press release.
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Although the technology is currently limited to research use, Sophia is eyeing a future market in clinical oncology.
It envisions doctors using the digital twin as a high-tech simulator to test different treatment strategies, potentially saving patients from the expense of ineffective therapies as well as their side effects. Oncologists also could use the tool to connect patients to clinical trials, the company said in an email.
For now, the platform focuses on lung cancer, but Sophia expects to expand it to other cancer types soon.
Clara Montagut, M.D., head of gastrointestinal cancer at Hospital del Mar in Barcelona, Spain, which uses Sophia’s technology, called the digital twin platform “an important step forward in helping clinicians make more informed decisions for complex cancers.”
“Having a digital model that can simulate potential outcomes before treatment has the potential to be transformative in how we deliver future care,” she said in the release.
Sophia, which has offices in Boston and Rolle, Switzerland, is one of several companies that have embraced digital twins for biopharma and healthcare in recent years. Others are using the virtual replicas to help with drug development and manufacturing or to help reverse chronic diseases like diabetes.
