Bayer showcases innovations in radiology portfolio at RSNA 2024

Bayer continues to advance its comprehensive radiology portfolio with progress in the development pipeline as well as innovations in the area of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The company presented new data for gadoquatrane, Bayer’s investigational low dose macrocyclic gadolinium-based contrast agent currently in Phase III development, at the 2024 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Annual Meeting in Chicago, USA.

Bayer also announced a collaboration with the global med-tech company Subtle Medical. The joint goal is to harness the power of AI in medical imaging: The companies have agreed to move forward with the development of the investigational SubtleGAD™ deep-learning algorithm, with the goal to enable an investigational dose reduction of specific gadolinium-based contrast agents for patients undergoing contrast-enhanced MRI while maintaining diagnostic efficacy.

New data for investigational contrast agent gadoquatrane
Gadoquatrane, Bayer’s investigational macrocyclic gadolinium-based contrast agent for MRI, is currently being investigated in Phase III studies to evaluate its potential to enable a substantially lower dose in patients undergoing contrast-enhanced MRI.

The purpose of the Phase I and II studies investigating gadoquatrane was to generate adequate data to facilitate dose selection for further development. Based on imaging and pharmacokinetic data, a dose of 0.04 mmol Gd/kg body weight was identified and is now being evaluated in a broad Phase III program.

Advancements in injection systems and technologies
As a multi-patient system, Bayer’s MEDRAD™ Centargo CT Injection System enables radiology technologists to focus more on patient care and alleviates process and administrative burdens for healthcare providers, specifically in high throughput settings. Following EU CE marking in 2020, the product has already been launched in 49 markets to date and can now deliver value for radiology departments in the U.S. which are facing a shortage of radiology technologists coupled with a rising demand for medical imaging.

Connectivity-enabled offerings on Bayer’s Cortenic™ Connectivity Platform reflect the importance of data, connectivity, and interoperability in future healthcare and the opportunities they present across the continuum of care.



MEDRAD™ Centargo CT Injection System

Fostering digital innovation in Radiology
Bayer is addressing key challenges when it comes to healthcare AI development: In April of this year, the company announced its collaboration with Google Cloud. Bayer’s new AI Innovation Platform (AIIP) is a cloud-based end-to-end software development platform designed to streamline and accelerate the development, validation, and deployment of imaging-based AI/ML (artificial intelligence/machine learning) healthcare applications, built on Google Cloud technology, which is in external testing.

To broaden its offering on the AIIP, Bayer announced collaborations with external data providers OneMedNet, PhantomX, RadImageNet, Segmed, and Telepaxx Medical Data at RSNA. AIIP will also be supporting the multi-modal AI database "Deep Lake" from Activeloop, to make radiological data AI-ready and compatible with GenAI (generative AI) solutions and regular AI model training. Additionally, tools like RATify from Envisionit Deep AI will further contribute to the broad range of features available on AIIP and facilitate the creation, validation, research and real-world monitoring of AI imaging tools – supporting healthcare providers with high standards of accuracy and reliability in AI medical imaging, and in their compliance with the new EU AI Act and FDA guidelines.

Developed by radiologists for radiologists, Calantic™ Digital Solutions coordinates various third-party app solutions into a single convenient, cloud-based marketplace – vetted with Bayer's expertise, to ensure the feasibility and reliability of the apps offered. On the occasion of RSNA 2024, Bayer announced that it will partner with new radiology AI technology providers: Rad ai and AIRS Medical for its operational AI service line as well as Contextflow, Gleamer, AZmed, Smart Soft Healthcare, and Lucida Medical for its clinical service lines to further expand its offering on Calantic™ Digital Solutions.

In addition, Blackford, an arm’s length company of Bayer, presented its Enterprise AI solutions. With its AI platform, tailored services, and a diverse portfolio of over 140 AI applications, they are designed to integrate smoothly into healthcare systems and to ensure seamless interoperability across imaging informatics workflows.

Bayer’s medical, regulatory and product AI team members from Calantic™ Digital Solutions, Blackford, and other Bayer-related offerings showcased insights to help healthcare providers, hospital administrators and developers advance their AI strategy, discussing topics like medical, regulatory, security, and compliance challenges in the field of AI in medical imaging, and how to bring AI-enabled healthcare solutions to market.