Sirona Medical to Add Nines’ AI-Powered Algorithms | Healthcare Innovation

Imaging informatics company Sirona Medical has acquired the artificial intelligence capabilities of a company called Nines.

San Francisco-based Sirona Medical was founded in 2018 with the goal of unifying existing radiology IT applications, worklist, viewer, and reporter into a single, radiologist-centric platform.

The recent purchase includes Nines’ clinical data pipeline, machine learning engines, AI-powered radiology workflow management and analytics tools, as well as two FDA-cleared medical devices.

In addition, key personnel from Nines will join Sirona Medical, including Maureen Bradford as chief revenue officer. Sirona Medical did not acquire Nines’ teleradiology business, Nines Radiology. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The FDA-cleared medical devices are NinesMeasure, a lung nodule algorithm that leverages AI to accelerate the diagnoses of certain respiratory diseases, and NinesAI Emergent Triage, a set of AI-powered algorithms that triages time-critical, life-threatening indications of intracranial hemorrhage and mass effect. They be integrated into Sirona’s radiology operating system (RadOS), a unified platform that combines siloed radiology applications into a cohesive user experience, the company said.

Sirona also recently announced a strategic partnership with RevealDx to integrate that company’s RevealAI-Lung algorithm into Sirona’s RadOS platform.

“In order for AI adoption to take place at scale, you need to break down the artificial silos of a medical image viewer, studies worklist, and speech recognition reporter. It’s only through a unified platform that AI can take full advantage of the underlying data and deliver context-specific results in the most relevant way to radiologists,” said Cameron Andrews, founder and CEO of Sirona Medical, in a statement. “I’ve been a longtime fan of what Nines has built and we’re excited to add their brilliant minds to the team, as we continue to expand on our vision to help radiologists through better software.”

“With the demands on radiologists’ time and effort continuing to increase, enabling more efficient workflows while maintaining high quality care are a top priority for all radiology practices. Sirona Medical’s RadOS offers an integrated tech stack solution, and I’m excited to see it incorporate Nines’ machine learning tools throughout multiple steps of the workflow pathway,” said Alexander Kagen, M.D., Nines co-founder and site chair of radiology, Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai Morningside, associate professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in a statement.

Sirona Medical is led by a team of software engineers, data scientists, and radiology professionals including Alan Kaye, M.D., chief medical officer and former president of the American College of Radiology (ACR), as well as industry veterans from Sectra, Arterys, R2 Technologies, and others. Notable advisors include Curt Langlotz, M.D., Ph.D., director at the Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and Imaging (AIMI) at Stanford University; Chris Wood, former CTO at Intelerad; Ron Paulus, former CEO at Mission Health, and; Bob Baumgartner, retired executive chairman of the board at the Center for Diagnostic Imaging.