Avitia’s intelligent cancer solution empowers labs and oncologists worldwide to accelerate targeted treatments that reduce costs while delivering improved patient-focused care

MONTREAL: #avitia--Avitia, an AI company providing end-to-end testing solutions to rapidly identify cancer mutations and applicable treatments, today announced its business launch and $5M seed investment from PacBridge Capital Partners (“PacBridge”). With Avitia’s platform, laboratories and clinicians now have access to advanced molecular testing directly on-site no matter where they are located. This technology will allow a healthcare team to accurately obtain cancer insights and begin treating patients faster — all at reduced costs compared to existing send-out alternatives. With this capital, Avitia will expand into new markets and enhance its platform’s capabilities. Avitia’s technology is currently used by partners in Canada, the United States, and Southeast Asia. With over 40,000 life-saving cancer mutation tests already run using this technology, Avitia affirms its role as a trusted partner in transforming global cancer care.

“Avitia believes that all patients deserve access to advanced, cost-effective testing, regardless of geographic or economic constraints,” said Avitia CEO and Partner of PacBridge James Lumsdaine. “Avitia will build on technology originally developed by Imagia Canexia Health, including an AI platform developed in Quebec in collaboration with Mila, the Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, to continue to deliver access to advanced cancer care to patients globally.”

The company’s innovative technology addresses one of oncology’s most pressing challenges: conducting advanced genomic testing in a time frame that provides oncologists actionable results that can be used to achieve the best possible outcomes for patients. A study by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) found that travel distance poses a significant barrier to accessing high-quality cancer care, directly affecting patient outcomes. That’s why Avitia’s modular technology allows cancer centers to conduct NGS tests on-site — reducing turnaround times and lowering costs compared to centralized labs operating send-out testing services. With AI-driven bioinformatics tailored to regional and patient-specific needs, Avitia empowers oncologists by removing logistical hurdles to test patients faster. These data-driven decisions ensure every patient receives care that is both precise, as well as personalized.

“Using minimally invasive liquid biopsy technology, we’ve proven that Avitia technology has the potential to improve patient monitoring as well as treatment response, especially for more aggressive endometrial and ovarian cancers,” said Dr. Jessica McAlpine, an oncologist at the University of British Columbia and British Columbia Cancer Agency, as well as a longtime collaborator. “Our recent retrospective study demonstrated that using Avitia’s liquid biopsy platform, we detected disease recurrence several months before conventional clinical, radiologic, and biomarker progression.”

“Greater Montréal is a world-renowned hub for artificial intelligence and life science industries. Avitia's project supports the retention of highly qualified talent while deploying locally developed, lifesaving technology,” said Stéphane Paquet, President and CEO, Montréal International. “Avitia illustrates how Montréal stands out in these two novel industries, providing a concrete application of artificial intelligence.”

“As AI continues to play a growing role in healthcare, its accuracy and reliability remain critical,” said Stéphane Létourneau, Executive Vice-President of Mila. “We are pleased to welcome Avitia as a Mila partner and to contribute to their efforts in applying AI to enhance cancer diagnostics.”

About Avitia

Avitia delivers advanced NGS-molecular testing solutions directly to laboratories via the company’s AI/ML platform. The company’s modular precision medicine technology equips cancer centers with cutting-edge NGS capabilities and network-wide insights. With Avitia’s automated platform, any lab can conduct liquid biopsy assays on-site — reducing testing time and cost while improving patient outcomes. With Avitia’s solutions available anywhere doctors treat patients, local oncologists are empowered to best serve their communities. For rapid, cost-effective, and high-fidelity molecular diagnostic solutions, contact Avitia today: www.avitia.bio

About PacBridge Capital Partners

PacBridge Capital Partners (HK) Limited is a Hong Kong-based investment firm. Founded in 2009, the firm is focused on investments in growth-stage companies. PacBridge works with its partners to add value to a business by investing capital and contributing skills and experience to maximize the performance of the business. A number of its portfolio companies have been listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and Nasdaq.

About Montréal International

Montréal International is a non-profit organization funded by the private sector, the governments of Canada and Québec, the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal and the City of Montréal. Its mandate is to attract and retain foreign investment (companies and startups), international organizations and qualified talent to Greater Montréal by providing support services tailored to their needs.

About Mila

Founded by Professor Yoshua Bengio of the University of Montreal, Mila is the world’s largest academic research center for deep learning, bringing together over 1,200 specialized researchers in machine learning. Based in Montreal and funded in part by the Government of Canada through the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy, Mila's mission is to be a global center for scientific advancements that inspire innovation and the growth of AI for the benefit of all. Mila is a globally recognized non-profit organization for its significant contributions to deep learning, especially in the fields of language modeling, automatic translation, object recognition, and generative models. For more information, visit mila.quebec.

Fonte: Business Wire