The Slide Finds the Patient
Victor Angel@vanmosti
+3.1%
since Oct 9
The idea
I believe the routine biopsy slide is becoming the entry point to precision medicine, as AI reading those images starts matching patients to targeted drugs that used to require separate, costly molecular tests. I own the whole chain that finding runs through: the stains and scanners that digitize the slide, the AI and data platforms that flag patients, the labs rolling this out, and the drugmakers whose biomarker-targeted treatments reach more people as a result.
What it owns
- Drugmakers whose targeted cancer drugs reach more patients when an AI read of the slide decides who qualifies. · AstraZeneca PLCIt owns the AI-scored TROP2 test for Datroway, where the slide AI directly decides who gets the drug and Roche is planning a companion test launch., Merck & Co.It sells cancer drugs prescribed based on biomarker test results, so wider access to affordable screening expands the patient population eligible for treatment., Gilead SciencesIts Trodelvy targets TROP2, the same protein scored by AI slide tests, so a working TROP2 test could help sort patients for this drug., AbbVie Inc.It is building antibody-drug conjugates that home in on tumor proteins, treatments that work best when testing finds the right patients., Pfizer Inc.Its Seagen pipeline is full of drugs aimed at specific tumor proteins, treatments that gain when AI reads find more eligible patients from routine slides.34%
- The stains, scanners and lab hardware that turn a glass slide into an image AI can read, so every new AI test runs on their equipment. · Danaher CorporationIts Leica division builds the full pathology lab setup from stains and scanners to AI software, so digital slides pass through its equipment at scale., Agilent TechnologiesIts Dako stains make H&E slides readable in the first place, and it already makes companion tests that decide who gets targeted drugs., Koninklijke Philips N.V.It makes the scanners that turn a glass slide into a digital image AI can analyze, so hospitals and labs buying digital pathology scanners support its growth.22%
- The companies pharma pays to read slides at scale and find the right patients for drugs and trials. · Tempus AIIt owns Paige and sells data and AI to drugmakers to find patients, with recent collaborations expanding the use of its slide-reading technology., IQVIA HoldingsIt runs trials and matches patients to them, so AI that flags more eligible patients from routine slides helps trials fill faster through its work., Thermo Fisher ScientificIt runs clinical trials for drugmakers and sells lab supplies those trials use, so more patients found for targeted drugs means more trial and testing work.22%
- The big national labs that process the slides and can swap costly send-out tests for an AI read on samples they already have. · Labcorp HoldingsIt sees a huge share of US pathology and has rolled out AI software across its labs, putting AI slide reading into practice at national scale., Quest DiagnosticsIt handles pathology at huge volume, so AI reads on routine slides replacing some molecular tests would land that work at a lab of its scale.15%
- Cash7%