Lunit AI Breast Cancer Screening Enters Australian State Government Screening Market

Breast mammography AI image analysis solution 'Lunit Insight MMG' is being used for screening. (Photo by Lunit)

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] Medical artificial intelligence (AI) company Lunit announced on the 16th that it has won the operation rights in the bid for the Australian New South Wales (NSW) government's 'Breast Cancer Screening Program (BSNSW·BreastScreen NSW)'. This is the first time worldwide that an AI-based solution has been adopted in a government-level cancer screening project.

BSNSW is an Australian national program that provides free breast cancer screening to women aged 40 and over in the NSW region, led by Sydney. Previously, the NSW government announced a bid for the operation of an AI-based breast cancer screening program and selected Lunit as the final operator.

The total contract amount for this bid is over 1,814,315 Australian dollars (approximately 1.6 billion Korean won). Lunit will conduct large-scale verification work in three phases until August 2024.

In the initial phase 1 of operation, more than 650,000 mammography images will be analyzed using the mammography AI image analysis solution 'Lunit INSIGHT MMG'. In phase 2, optimization and verification work (Prospective Validation) for program operation will be carried out, and in the final phase 3, Lunit INSIGHT MMG will be installed in actual medical sites to complete the milestone.

Once the business performance is confirmed through the phase 3 verification, Lunit will be able to secure the BSNSW operation rights until 2029 without additional bidding, which is expected to generate additional sales. Lunit also plans to pursue operation rights for breast cancer screening programs in other Australian regions.

Seobum-seok, CEO of Lunit, stated, "This is the first time Lunit has won operation rights in a government-level health screening program bid, and through this, we achieved sales equivalent to one-quarter of last year's total revenue." He added, "We plan to proactively prepare for the demand of national screening programs while actively seeking additional business opportunities."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.