New Jersey lab eyes low-cost breast screening for developing world

ClearView Diagnostics has hopes of bringing expanded breast screening to the developing world using low-cost ultrasound developed with the Dr. Susan Love Foundation and a grant from the NIH National Cancer Institute.

The computer-aided diagnosis triage (CADt) system uses computer vision to classify a tumor as benign, probably benign or suspicious, dictating the course of action depending on the classification. The device is currently in validation studies at USC and UCLA.

“It has been great working with the foundation under the NIH Grant, and we are really looking forward to getting the product into the market during phase II of the grant," said Christine Podilchuk, CEO of ClearView, based in Piscataway, New Jersey.

Mammography screening—while effective—is costly, putting it out of reach for many low-income countries. In these nations, breast cancer has a high mortality rate due to the typical late-stage diagnosis. The CADt system could detect abnormalities early and spur women to visit a doctor when before they might not have known anything was wrong.

A portion of the proceeds of every sale of the ClearView CADt product have been pledged to the Foundation in recognition of their work on the project.

“This product has the potential to help women in low- and middle-income countries that currently have limited access to healthcare and breast cancer diagnosis. We are grateful to ClearView for its generosity and partnership on this important project,” said Susan Love, MD, MBA, Chief Visionary Officer of the eponymous foundation.