GE Healthcare and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) have announced the formation of a new company to improve the speed, efficiency of diagnosis and interpretation of lab results
The new joint company, called Omnyx, will bring to market digital solutions to shape a new age of patient care and apply those solutions to a science that has relied on glass slides and microscopes for over 125 years.
Omnyx is the first company in GE's history to be formed with an academic medical center and represents an aim to accelerate ideas to market through enhanced co-development.
Omnyx's digital platform will seek to enable clinicians to share images virtually, interpret results using advanced algorithms and reduce costs associated with diagnosis.
The benefit to patients could include reducing medical errors, improved turnaround time for lab results and integrating pathology information as part of his or her electronic medical record.
GE and UPMC have appointed Gene Cartwright, a 26-year healthcare veteran and former president of GE Healthcare's molecular diagnostics, as chief executive officer of Omnyx.
"This new company will revolutionise patient care and expand GE vision for early health - the ability to diagnose disease at the earliest possible stage, which in turn can lead to more effective treatment and monitoring," said Cartwright.
"Digitising pathology will allow Omnyx to provide doctors with better tools for the full care continuum, enhancing their decision-making capabilities in key disease areas".
GE researchers including biologists, applied physicists, visualisation scientists, mechanical and electrical engineers, high-performance computer scientists and optical engineers worked for three years to develop the first prototype systems.
The research team applied GE's extensive experience in digital X-ray imaging to overcome what appeared to be insurmountable barriers for a mainstream product: image quality and speed of scanning slides.
Building on early developments in GE's Global Research Center, Omnyx will unite UPMC's pioneering developments in digital pathology with GE's technology to create a viable solution for high-volume clinical use.
"Digital pathology provides a platform for the creation of new tools that will help pathologists screen large numbers of slides in search of a small nest of cells or a few bacteria to quickly and accurately diagnose disease," said George Michalopoulos, professor and chairman of the department of pathology at the University of Pittsburgh and pathologist at UPMC.
"This innovative collaboration with GE will help to address the critical cost and quality issues facing healthcare today," said Jeffrey Romoff, president and chief executive officer, UPMC.
"The formation of Omnyx underscores UPMC's strategy of leveraging its medical, technology and research expertise to create solutions that benefit patients worldwide.
"At the same time, this new, Pittsburgh-based company will contribute to the continuing revitalization of the economy of western Pennsylvania".
Operating as an independent company, with financia! l support from both GE and UPMC, Omnyx will be governed by an executive board, including Mark Little, senior vice president and director of GE's Global Research Center; Vishal Wanchoo, president and CEO, GE Healthcare IT; Dan Drawbaugh, chief information officer, UPMC; Stephen Boochever, executive vice president, UPMC's International and Commercial Services Division.
Omnyx will be located at a new headquarters in Pittsburgh, with additional offices in Piscataway, NJ and other GE Healthcare facilities.
