Roche launches its decision-making algorithm marketplace

In a further sign of pharma embracing digital technologies, Roche has launched a library of medical algorithms designed to make clinical decision-making faster and more tailored to patients.

The navify suite is a marketplace-like platform that offers clinicians access to various algorithms developed by Roche or its partners, starting off with algorithms aimed at identifying patients who are at risk of developing certain cancers.

Roche pulled its portfolio of more than 30 digital health offerings for infrastructure, operations, clinical decision support, and screening tools together last year under the navify brand, promising that the software would help improve operational processes and clinical decision making in healthcare.

At the time, Moritz Hartmann – global head of information solutions at Roche Diagnostics – explained that the objective is to create an open digital ecosystem with labs, hospitals, and medtech companies to bring the latest innovations faster to society.

“As healthcare data is set to grow annually by 36%, digital medical algorithms can generate actionable insights, which physicians can use to start delivering on the promise of personalised healthcare,” said Hartmann.

“With navify Algorithm Suite, clinicians can easily order the medical algorithms they need from Roche and other providers, to get enhanced insights that improve patient care,” he added.

The company cites data that estimates that limited ability to connect and share data in the US healthcare system results in costs of around $30 billion a year, and will be exacerbated by a shortage of healthcare workers predicted to reach 15 million worldwide by 2030.

The navify suite will make it easier for physicians to use and adopt medical algorithms, and give universities and other providers of digital algorithms a direct channel to distribute their software.

The first algorithms to be included are focused on cancer, and include GAAD, which has been developed to assist in the diagnosis of early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) – the most common form of liver cancer – in patients with chronic liver disease.

Also in the initial range is the ColonFlag algorithm from the Medial EarlySign company, which helps identify patients at high-risk for colon cancer by analysing age, sex, and a recent complete blood count.

Additional medical algorithms for oncology, cardiology, and other diseases, such as lung and infectious diseases, are in the pipeline, said Roche.

The new navify ecosystem will be showcased by Roche at the forthcoming Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) annual conference in Chicago on 17th to 21st April. It is currently available in Europe and Asia-Pacific.