Hologic Leverages Google Cloud Machine Learning to Boost Cervical Cancer Screening

Hologic has its head in a cloud. And that’s a good thing. On February 1, the Massachusetts-based medical technology firm announced that it has entered into a strategic collaboration with Google Cloud to develop an advanced platform for screening of cervical cancer. The strategy is to combine Hologic’s Genius Digital Diagnostics System with Google Cloud’s machine learning (ML) capabilities to create a digital cytology platform “to transform screening and accelerate the eradication of cervical cancer across the globe.” Here’s the lowdown.

Product Strategy: Hologic AI + Google Cloud ML = Digital Cytology Powerhouse

Hologic claims that its Genius Digital Diagnostics System is the first digital cytology platform to combine artificial intelligence (AI) with advanced digital imaging to help identify pre-cancerous lesions and cancer cells in women. The collaboration enables the company to leverage Google Cloud’s state of the art ML technology to enhance the system’s deep learning component so that it will provide “more actionable insights from cytology slides for cytotechnologists and pathologists.” Hologic will also use be able to use Google Cloud’s reliable and secure cloud data architecture to further improve the system.

Business Strategy

It’s hard to know what the business strategy is because the firms didn’t disclose the financial details of their collaboration, other than the fact that it’s a multi-year arrangement. What we do know is that the Genius Digital Diagnostics System is CE marked in Europe but isn’t yet available in the U.S. Getting FDA approval may be tricky given the current uncertainties surrounding the agency’s regulation of ML-based software for medical device applications.

These have been active times for Hologic. At the end of February, the firm announced that it has completed its $230 million strategic acquisition of Biotheranostics, a San Diego-based, privately held producer of genetics diagnostics products for breast and metastatic cancers, including the PCR-based Breast Cancer Index and CancerType ID tests. Just two days before revealing the Biotheranostics play, Hologic announced that it had expanded its presence in Europe by acquiring Berlin, Germany-based women’s health provider Somatex Medical, for $64 million.

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This article originally appeared in G2 Intelligence, Laboratory Industry Report, March 2021.