Massive Bio, Optellum Partner on Early Detection, Clinical Trial Access for Lung Cancer

Editor’s Take: The collaboration connects the dots between patients identified as high-risk during routine imaging and consideration for trial enrollment.

Massive Bio and Optellum are pairing early detection with improved trial access for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The companies say most patients diagnosed with lung cancer and designated as high risk never reach clinical trials.

However, lung cancer remains the worldwide leading cause of cancer-related death. Early-stage detection improves outcomes dramatically, with a 64% five-year survival rate versus 9% at late-stage diagnosis. But Massive Bio and Optellum call the gap between a high-risk imaging finding and active trial referral a “missed opportunity.”

Optellum Leverages Lung Cancer Detection

To that end, Optellum will deploy in this collaboration its clinically validated Lung Cancer Prediction (LCP) AI. This system helps clinicians detect high-risk lung nodule patients.

For the first time, Massive Bio’s AI-powered clinical trial matching platform will integrate with such a system. What this does is not only pair patients with active clinical trials, but also deliver actionable and physician-targeted reports.

Eventually, expanding treatment options for patients identified and made eligible for trials earlier will be the goal.

Massive Bio Responds

“For the first time, we can close the loop between a high-risk CT finding and a relevant clinical trial referral—in real time, and at scale.“

Arturo Loaiza-Bonilla, Chief Medical AI Officer, Massive Bio

Arturo Loaiza-Bonilla, MD, Massive Bio Chief Medical AI Officer, illustrated the potential bridging this gap might have.

“We can close the loop between a high-risk CT finding and a relevant clinical trial referral,” Loaiza-Bonilla said.

In addition, according to Loaiza-Bonilla, doing this happens in real time and at scale.

“NSCLC patients flagged by Optellum’s LCP AI are some of the most time-sensitive candidates for clinical research,” Loaiza-Bonilla said. “They’ve been identified early, before the window for curative-intent options closes. Our collaboration ensures that their physicians receive the right trial information, in the right geography, at exactly the right moment.”