Imaging giant RadNet buying two more artificial intelligence firms for total of nearly $100M
Imaging industry giant RadNet is buying two more artificial intelligence firms for a total of nearly $100 million, leaders announced Monday.
Both are headquartered in the Netherlands and include Amsterdam-based Aidence (focused on solutions for pulmonary nodule management and lung cancer screening) and Rotterdam-based Quantib (specializing in prostate cancer and neurodegeneration).
The two companies will now join RadNet’s AI division, which also includes mammography experts from DeepHealth, acquired in 2020 for more than $40 million. Los Angeles-based RadNet now owns solutions covering three of the most prevalent cancers—breast, prostate and lung—presenting an opportunity to scale them across hundreds of imaging centers.
“We believe that large population health screening will play an important role for health insurers, health systems and large employer groups in the near future,” Howard Berger, MD, RadNet’s co-founder and chief executive officer, said Jan. 24. “As the largest owner of diagnostic imaging centers in the United States, RadNet has relationships that can serve to make large-scale screening programs, similar to what mammography is for breast cancer screening, a reality.”
Quantib was first founded in 2012 as a spinoff from the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands and has multiple solutions cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Those include Quantib Prostate for analysis of magnetic resonance images and Quantib Brain to assist in quantifying abnormalities on MRI. RadNet is paying an aggregate of $45 million for the firm, which includes issuing more than 965,000 shares of its common stock to Quantib stakeholders. The company currently has customers across 20 countries worldwide.
Aidence was founded in 2015, with its first commercial offering, Veye Lung Nodules, aimed at helping docs detect such clinical concerns on CT scans. The product is already greenlit in Europe and used by providers in seven countries. Aidence submitted the solution for U.S. FDA clearance back in December. This week’s deal values the firm at $10 million with RadNet paying an aggregate of $50 million that also includes hitting future milestones. The acquirer is also issuing more than 1.1 million shares of RadNet common stock to Aidence stakeholders, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Computer scientist, CEO and co-founder Mark-Jan Harte also touted the vast amounts of data Aidence will now have at hand following the merger.
“As a result of an operation of 350 facilities in some of the busiest U.S. markets and performing over eight million exams per year, RadNet’s database of images and radiologist reports is one of the largest and most diverse we’ve identified so far,” he said in a statement. “I see unprecedented opportunities to further scale adoption, leveraging RadNet’s capabilities.”
RadNet currently delivers more than 100,000 chest CT scans annually. But lung cancer screening is still “dramatically underutilized,” Berger said. The company sees opportunity for growth after the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recently expanded screening guidelines to more than 14 million individuals. RadNet also believes lung screening will play a key role for COVID-19 recoverees who may require monitoring of lingering lung issues.
“We believe the amount of chest CTs could significantly increase if high-risk patients and patients with long-term COVID-19 effects have access to low-cost, effective screening programs that we believe Aidence’s solutions can facilitate,” Berger said.
Meanwhile, prostate MRI represents a growing area of RadNet’s overall business, with opportunity to create low-cost services for Medicare and privately insured patients. Berger hopes to eventually launch large-scale screening programs similar to how mammography is deployed today, with Quantib Prostate a key piece. Its brain MRI offering could also have an impact in monitoring Alzheimer’s patients, particularly those undergoing emerging new treatment therapies, he added.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.