Viz.ai Teams Up With Sanofi, Regeneron for COPD Management

Viz.ai has crafted a multi-year partnership with Sanofi and Regeneron to deploy and evaluate an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered workflow solution for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The two companies will help Viz.ai determine whether its Viz COPD module can adequately leverage electronic health record (EHR) data and AI to detect and manage high-risk COPD patients. 

“At Sanofi, we’re excited to collaborate with Viz.ai to further address unmet needs in COPD care by leveraging AI,” said Paul Rowe, M.D., ATSF and Head of Medical, Specialty Care, at Sanofi. “With this collaboration, we will study the impact of the Viz COPD module, a streamlined AI-enabled EHR workflow to improve access to care and ultimately patient outcomes in COPD, a disease that remains underprioritized, underfunded, and undertreated in comparison to other noncommunicable diseases.”

COPD is a common, progressive lung disease that results in restricted airflow, making it difficult to breathe. An estimated 392 million people worldwide currently live with COPD,¹ and it is the fourth-leading cause of death globally.² COPD adds significant strain to healthcare systems and with each case, healthcare utilization grows as symptoms progress, magnifying the disease’s economic toll. Many COPD patients fail to receive optimal treatment due to improper identification of risk level, poor care coordination, lack of monitoring and escalation, and high administrative barriers to therapy.^3,4 

The Viz COPD module will evaluate EHR data using natural language processing to screen and triage patients in line with established clinical guidelines, flagging high-risk individuals for further follow-up and care. The Viz COPD module builds upon Viz.ai’s presence in more than 1,700 hospitals and health systems with over 60,000 healthcare providers on the platform to improve diagnosis and care across a various disease areas, including the respiratory space. Together, Viz.ai, Sanofi, and Regeneron aim to maximize patient impact, particularly for patients who stand to benefit most from improved follow-up and care.

“This collaboration with Sanofi and Regeneron is a major step forward in our mission to expand AI-driven care coordination across disease areas with critical unmet needs, such as COPD,” Viz.ai Co-Founder/CEO Chris Mansi, M.D., stated. “Our approach aims to empower healthcare providers to deliver data-driven, guideline-directed care that meaningfully impacts patient outcomes. We look forward to collaborating with Sanofi and Regeneron to harness AI to accelerate advancements in disease management and improve patient access to care.”

Viz.ai uses AI algorithms and machine learning to increase the speed of diagnosis and care across more than 1,700 hospitals and health systems in the United States and Europe. The AI-powered Viz.ai One is an intelligent care coordination solution that identifies more patients with a suspected disease, informs critical decisions at the point of care, and optimizes care pathways and helps improve outcomes. Backed by real-world clinical evidence, Viz.ai One delivers significant value to patients, providers, and pharmaceutical and medical device companies.

References
¹ World Health Organization. (2023, November 15). Smoking is the leading cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. World Health Organization. Retrieved November 14, 2024 from https://www.who.int/news/item/15-11-2023-smoking-is-the-leading-cause-of-chronic-obstructive-pulmonary-disease
² World Health Organization. (n.d.). Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). World Health Organization. Retrieved November 14, 2024 from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/chronic-obstructive-pulmonary-disease-%28copd%29
³ Siu DCH, Gafni-Lachter L. Addressing Barriers to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Care: Three Innovative Evidence-Based Approaches: A Review. Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis. 2024;19:331-341. Published 2024 Feb 1. doi:10.2147/COPD.S426050
⁴ Pierucci P, Santomasi C, Ambrosino N, Portacci A, Diaferia F, Hansen K, Odemyr M, Jones S, Carpagnano GE. Patient’s treatment burden related to care coordination in the field of respiratory diseases. Breathe (Sheff). 2021 Mar;17(1):210006. doi: 10.1183/20734735.0006-2021. PMID: 34295410; PMCID: PMC8291948.