Sensyne Health partners with Great Ormond Street to drive childhood disease AI research globally

Sensyne the Oxford-based ethical Clinical AI company is to partner with Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH) to develop new treatments for childhood illnesses through the ethical application of clinical artificial intelligence research on anonymised patient data

The agreement marks the launch of a wider initiative to create a global data collaborative using ethical AI to find new and better ways to treat rare and complex childhood diseases  

GOSH will receive equity in Sensyne Health plc, research funding and a share of revenues

This strategic research agreement is Sensyne's first to focus on improving care and accelerating the development of medicines specifically for children.

The first project will focus on developing a clinical decision support algorithm to help clinicians caring for children with chronic kidney disease. This will then be used to develop further clinical support algorithms for other diseases in children. 

Development of paediatric medicines, from discovery through clinical development, has long been especially challenging. Recent developments in Clinical AI and the use of real world data provide an opportunity to develop new medicines and to accelerate the clinical development of treatments for childhood illnesses. This will be a key focus of the research that Sensyne and GOSH will seek to develop.

GOSH has invested significantly in creating a unique dataset to drive forward improvements in diagnosis and treatment of rare and complex childhood diseases. GOSH, together with Sensyne, plans to build a global ethical AI research paediatric community, which will use data to find new and better ways to treat rare and complex childhood diseases.

This is an area that has so far not been a major focus of the global pharmaceutical and data science industries as most medicines are developed for adults. It has long been recognised that the development of paediatric medicines from discovery through clinical development is particularly challenging, both in terms of new therapies and in limiting the availability of paediatric versions of adult medicines. Recent developments in clinical AI and the use of real world data provides an opportunity to develop new medicines and to accelerate the clinical development of new medicines for childhood illnesses. This will be a key focus of the research that Sensyne and GOSH will seek to develop, thereby providing new opportunities for pharmaceutical companies to invest in new therapies for children.

Matthew Shaw, Chief Executive of Great Ormond Street Hospital, said:"At GOSH we treat patients with the most rare and complex conditions. Research into developing new diagnosis and treatments is vital and we are always looking to find ways to improve patient outcomes, while making sure their information is safe and secure. Children are at the heart of everything we do and this collaboration is no different. It will offer the potential to use digital innovation to find and develop diagnosis and treatments much faster, not just for GOSH patients but children across the country and internationally."

 Lord (Paul) Drayson PhD, CEO of Sensyne Health, said:"We are delighted to be undertaking research in partnership with Great Ormond Street Hospital, widely recognised as one of the leading centres for children's healthcare and research in the world. GOSH has invested heavily in its digital infrastructure and curation of its data which means we can start work immediately: together we aim to use the power of ethical AI to make a real difference in finding new and better ways to treat rare and complex childhood diseases and in future to develop a world-wide research community using ethical AI to improve the lives of children world-wide."