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AstraZeneca, in partnership with Indian health-tech company Qure.ai, has announced the successful completion of 5 million artificial intelligence (AI) enabled chest X-rays (CXRs) across more than 20 countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.
The milestone, part of AstraZeneca's commitment to the World Economic Forum's EDISON Alliance 1 Billion Lives Challenge, demonstrates the potential of AI to improve lung cancer detection, especially within resource-limited healthcare settings.
The AI-enabled CXRs revealed important findings, including lung nodules at high risk for cancer in nearly 50,000 people – prompting their referral for further testing and possible diagnosis.
The EDISON Alliance's 1 Billion Lives Challenge, launched in 2022, aims to improve 1 billion lives through digital access to healthcare, education, and financial services. AstraZeneca supports the initiative, aligning with the goals of its A.Catalyst Network – AstraZeneca’s global innovation network that aims to speed up the process of turning innovative ideas into real-world healthcare solutions.
In 2020, under the A.Catalyst Network initiative, AstraZeneca partnered with Qure.ai to harness Qure.ai's qXR® technology for assessing CXRs and determining potential lung cancer risk. This collaboration brings together diverse stakeholders across geographical boundaries to foster innovation throughout the patient journey.
By using AI to analyse routine X-rays for risks of cancer, healthcare professionals can focus on those patients who need further assessment, such as a low-dose CT scan to confirm or rule out lung cancer. This is especially helpful in countries where resources are limited, as it helps to make the best use of available equipment and expertise, ensuring that those at highest risk get the attention they need and that screening programs are as effective as possible.
Ti Hwei How, Vice President, International Oncology, AstraZeneca said, "Our collaboration with Qure.ai has validated the power of AI-enabled chest X-rays as a cost-effective triaging tool for early lung cancer detection. With successful implementation in countries such as Colombia, El Salvador and India, we are setting the stage for scaling this approach. We are actively partnering with Ministries of Health and policymakers to prioritise lung health and lung cancer on national agendas, including through AI-enabled screening programs to make a real difference.”
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, and while mortality rates are generally declining in high-income countries, they are rising in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs). Early detection through screening plays a critical role in reducing lung cancer deaths by diagnosing more lung cancers at an early stage when they are still curable.
Data recently released at the European Lung Cancer Congress (ELCC) 2025 showed qXR® may be effective in detecting high-risk lung nodules 54.1% of the time for early detection of lung cancer, as well as the technology’s cost-effectiveness, based on data modelling its use within Vietnam’s healthcare system.
