PRESS RELEASE: NICO.LAB announces partnership with AI Advance to transform stroke care in Australia and New Zealand

NICO.LAB and AI Advance today announced a new partnership that will revolutionise stroke care across Australia and New Zealand. AI Advance will be distributing StrokeViewer, an artificial intelligence solution that empowers physicians with the triaging, diagnosis and treatment decision making of patients in the emergency stroke setting.

StrokeViewer is a clinical-decision support tool that combines artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms and a communication platform to help stroke experts make faster well-informed treatment decisions. StrokeViewer allows physicians to diagnose stroke patients remotely, on any mobile or desktop device. The secure cloud-based infrastructure of the solution makes implementation straightforward, requiring no additional hardware. Hospitals across Australia and New Zealand, including those with minimal infrastructure, can implement StrokeViewer and raise their standard of stroke care.

Jeroen Pex, Chief Commercial Officer at NICO.LAB:
“AI Advance brings a long experience in the medical field and large network to the table, enabling NICO.LAB to hit the ground running in Australia and New Zealand. Their focus on AI solutions, makes them the right partner for us and for the hospitals and clinics in Australia and New Zealand.”

Peter Rady, Director and Co-Founder of AI Advance (Australia):
“I am really excited to bring StrokeViewer to the Australian market. As a country we are leading with mobile stroke treatment which is attracting government investment to reduce the time to treatment of stroke patients. I am proud that StrokeViewer can further support this strategy.“

Stroke is a time-critical disease and third-biggest killer worldwide. During a stroke two million brain cells die every minute until blood flow is restored [1] therefore starting treatment earlier can make the difference between recovery or life-long disability. In Australia, every 19 minutes a patient suffers from a stroke. There are an estimated 450,000 stroke survivors living in the community, needing daily care[2]. Over half of all stroke survivors need some form of care. Besides the devastating effects on people’s lives, the economic burden in Australia in 2020 was over $6.2 billion[2].

The TGA and Medsafe cleared algorithms are embedded in a cloud-based infrastructure. Medical specialists are notified of the AI results on their smartphone within minutes of the patient being scanned. The physicians are then able to inspect the CT images via a certified diagnostic viewer and diagnose a patient remotely or at the hospital.

Merel Boers, CEO and co-founder of NICO.LAB:
“At NICO.LAB we know that AI is the future of healthcare. We can see how impactful the combination of human and artificial intelligence really is. It really is very exciting and there is still so much more to come! We won’t stop until every patient in emergency care receives the right treatment they deserve.”

Carole Perryman, Director and Co-Founder of AI Advance (New Zealand):
“Stroke can happen to anyone, at any age and here in New Zealand over 11,000 people are affected by stroke each year. AI Advance is proud to partner with NICO.LAB to bring StrokeViewer functionality to our region.”

About
NICO.LAB was founded in 2015 as a spin-off from the Amsterdam University Medical Center in the Netherlands and has offices in Australia, Europe and the United States. An international team of researchers, developers and physicians connects human & artificial intelligence to empower physicians in emergency care with end-to-end solutions. StrokeViewer consists of a comprehensive set of tools to support the entire stroke workflow. Local availability of StrokeViewer functionality is subject to applicable CE marking, TGA and FDA approval (the actual status is on www.strokeviewer.nico-lab.com).

AI Advance was founded in Melbourne in 2019 and opened their Auckland subsidiary at the end of 2020. The company provides artificial intelligence consulting services to assist radiology and cardiology practices develop their AI business strategies, so they can have access to the latest technology in their clinical practice. AI Advance also distributes proven commercial AI products for radiology and cardiology to hospitals and private practices across Australia and New Zealand with the aim to improve outcomes for physicians, their referrers and patients. As well as StrokeViewer, AI Advance distributes several other AI solutions for radiology and cardiology.

References:
[1]Saver, 2006 – “Time is brain—quantified.” Stroke 37.1 (2006): 263-266
[2]https://strokefoundation.org.au/News/2020/11/04/02/57/No%20Postcode%20Untouched#:~:text=An%20estimated%2027%2C428%20Australians%20experienced,stroke%20living%20in%20the%20community