Onco-Innovations Partners with AstraZeneca and GSK on AI-Driven Oncology Research Collaborations
Key Insights
Onco-Innovations' subsidiary Inka Health has initiated two major research collaborations with pharmaceutical giants AstraZeneca and GSK to advance AI applications in oncology research and development.
The AstraZeneca partnership focuses on the PROmAI program, developing multimodal artificial intelligence approaches to predict clinical outcomes in oncology using molecular, clinical, and imaging data sources.
The GSK collaboration aims to develop real-world data-driven methodologies to improve the transportability of oncology clinical trial results across broader patient populations and healthcare settings.
Onco-Innovations Limited (search) has announced two strategic research collaborations through its wholly-owned subsidiary Inka Health Corp (search)., partnering with global pharmaceutical leaders AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline to advance artificial intelligence applications in oncology research and development.
AstraZeneca Partnership Advances Multimodal AI in Oncology
The collaboration with AstraZeneca centers on Onco's PROmAI program (Predicting Oncology Outcomes using Multimodal Artificial Intelligence), focusing on developing AI-based approaches to improve clinical outcome predictions in oncology. The joint effort will assess multimodal approaches using deidentified research datasets, including molecular, clinical, and imaging sources where permitted, to better understand patient heterogeneity and treatment response patterns.
The initiative aims to strengthen decision support tools that can inform translational research, clinical development strategy, and the design of future oncology studies. According to the companies, the work will contribute to frameworks that enhance interpretability, align with evolving expectations from regulators and payers, and ultimately improve the utility of AI-driven methods in oncology research.
"We are proud to work alongside AstraZeneca on this important effort. Their leadership in oncology brings an essential perspective to the development of AI methods that must be both innovative and dependable," stated Thomas O'Shaughnessy, CEO of Onco-Innovations. "This collaboration allows us to explore how multimodal and causal AI can uncover patterns that traditional approaches often miss. We believe this work has the potential to accelerate translational insights and reduce uncertainty in oncology development."
GSK Collaboration Focuses on Real-World Evidence Generation
The research agreement with GSK aims to develop real-world data-driven methodologies to improve the transportability of oncology clinical trial results across broader patient populations, geographies, and healthcare settings. The collaboration seeks to make clinical evidence more relevant to real-world decision-making by addressing how clinical trial findings can be applied across diverse real-world settings.
Inka Health will contribute expertise in advanced analytics, including machine learning and causal inference methods, working with GSK Epidemiology and Real-World Evidence experts. The project is expected to include a comprehensive literature review on transportability methodologies, design of a structured evaluation framework, and retrospective testing using publicly available oncology datasets.
"We are pleased to work with Inka Health on this important area of evidence generation. As the use of real-world data continues to evolve, there is growing interest in methodologies that can help evaluate how clinical trial findings may translate across broader patient populations and care settings," said Rodrigo Refoios Camejo, Executive Director of RWE Science & Innovation at GSK.
Addressing Critical Challenges in Oncology Research
The GSK initiative specifically targets a significant challenge in oncology research: assessing whether clinical trial findings can be applied across diverse real-world settings. The collaboration recognizes that treatments showing positive results in controlled clinical trials involving narrow patient groups may perform differently in broader real-world populations with varying demographics, health conditions, and access to care.
Both projects are expected to contribute to jointly authored scientific manuscripts with contributors from the respective partner organizations. The work is designed to support more rigorous approaches to understanding the applicability of clinical evidence in real-world contexts.
Strategic Implications for Onco-Innovations
For Onco-Innovations, these collaborations represent significant milestones in the company's strategy to apply advanced AI to complex problems in oncology drug development. O'Shaughnessy emphasized that the agreements reflect "the kind of high-value scientific work we believe can help shape the future of oncology research" and demonstrate the relevance of the company's capabilities in evidence generation and advanced analytics.
The CEO noted that these capabilities are part of the broader vision for SynoGraph and Onco's integrated approach to oncology innovation, with the potential to inform smarter development pathways and support the company's broader objective of advancing IND-enabling activities.
Onco-Innovations is a Canadian-based company dedicated to cancer research and treatment, with a mission to pursue cancer prevention and treatment through pioneering research and innovative solutions. The company has secured an exclusive worldwide license to patented technology that targets solid tumors.