The National Institutes of Health is turning to artificial intelligence and imaging scans to not only help detect cases of COVID-19 earlier, but to potentially personalize treatments for the spreading disease.
In lung CT scans, the novel coronavirus leaves telltale signs that distinguish it from other respiratory diseases—small white spots and a slightly obscuring haze, described by radiologists as “ground glass,” that indicates fluid build-up and damage to the tissue. Abnormalities are found in the heart scans and ultrasounds of many COVID-19 patients as well.
A collaboration funded by the NIH’s National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering aims to develop new diagnostics and machine learning algorithms to quickly assess the severity of an infection and predict a person’s responses to different treatments.
Cell and Gene Therapy Space Shows Remarkable Resilience
In the early days of COVID-19, the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) was unsure how the pandemic and its accompanying economic downturn would affect the cell and gene therapy space.
“It was a really specific time when the world and the markets were clearly reeling from the first appreciation for the seriousness of COVID-19,” Janet Lambert, the organization’s CEO said.
Now, the numbers are in—and they’re better than ever. In the first half of 2020, the regenerative medicine sector raised $10.7 billion, more than the total capital raised in 2019 and a 120% jump over the first half of 2019, ARM found in a new report titled, “Innovation in the Time of COVID-19.” The proceeds were shared pretty evenly between cell therapy companies ($7.5 billion) and gene and gene-modified cell therapy companies ($7.9 billion), with companies focused on tissue engineering reeling in $84 million.