Building partnerships for the AI and healthcare consortium is a key focus for Oncoustics. The Oncoustics technology would not exist were it not for the foundational tech on which it is based. The solution rides on existing ultrasound systems such as from Canadian ultrasound transducer and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Clarius. Oncoustics also has a relationship with the micro-ultrasound vendor, Exact Imaging, a Toronto based company, with which a study in prostate cancer was completed and published. In addition to the ultrasound transducers and underlying tech stacks that Oncoustics utilizes for our data collection, Oncoustics also utilizes cloud compute services from vendors such as Google Canada and SADA Canada. We likewise utilize off the shelf smart phones, and other backend and compute products from companies such as nVidia, Amazon, and Microsoft. Beyond these direct technology partners for the Oncoustics platform, Oncoustics has multiple clinical partners, including the clinical partners for this program, UHN and the University of Calgary. (See details below.) Finally, Oncoustics has existing partnerships with pharma and bio pharma companies for joint data collections alongside of clinical research programs for drug development and enhancing blood-based and other types of diagnostics.

Initial focus will be on expanding partnerships across the Canadian ecosystem. As has been demonstrated in this project, clinical partnerships can require complex negotiations and time to cement. Our strategy here will be to build on the existing partnerships and relationships and expand these. We will also seek to bring in additional clinical centers with a key goal being to bring in more private clinics that can move more rapidly and readily than large academic centers. Oncoustics is already in one private clinic in London Ontario and is looking to expand across the country. A secondary goal would be to begin work with some of the First Nations groups. It’s an unfortunate situation, that liver disease is a significant burden in First Nations communities. Due to special protections these types of clinical relationships require finesse and patience. Oncoustics will utilize our existing connections into these communities to bring them on board and enable the co-development of tools, that may in the future significantly serve the same communities.

As noted, Oncoustics has relationships with OEM vendors, Clarius and Exact Imaging. For future phases of this project, we will seek to bring these partners in as network partners and to also expand to other OEMs and transducers makers including EchOpen Studios in Paris, France, Vave Health and Butterfly IQ in the United States and multinational groups like Samsung, GE, Phillips and Cannon. In addition, we will seek to bring in the entire tech stack partners, including Google Canada, SADA Canada, and nVidia. Pharma partnerships will also be expanded and include both Canadian and international pharmaceutical companies. Finally, the addition of other AI in healthcare startups will make for a robust community and consortium. Companies like miRoncal, with its AI driven microRNA solutions and OneCup with its AI driven image analysis might be combined in novel and exciting ways to enhance and speed the development of improved solutions for the detection, management and treatments of disease.