Over half a billion people per year are infected by Streptococcus A worldwide, and it currently kills as many children as malaria does.
And there’s another issue: antibiotics are often over-prescribed. This leads to microbial resistance to the drugs, which the World Health Organization identifies as a top-five global health threat.
A company based out of Vancouver is launching on the public markets this week as it looks to reimagine sore throat diagnosing.
Light AI, now trading on Toronto’s Cboe as ALGO, has been working on a solution to this problem for more than a decade.
Powered by $20 million in research and development capital since 2016, the B.C. firm’s patented diagnostic software uses Artificial Intelligence algorithms to analyze smartphone images for identifying Strep A infections without the use of traditional, in-person methods, such as swabbing.
Light AI is a member of the BC Tech Association.
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“We are thrilled to announce our successful listing on Cboe Canada,” stated Darren Tindale, the company’s chief of finance. “This milestone marks a significant achievement in our growth strategy, enhancing liquidity and visibility for our investors.”
“By joining one of the leading stock exchanges, we aim to further strengthen our market presence and unlock greater value for shareholders,” the CFO continued. “We look forward to the exciting opportunities this listing will bring as we continue to execute on our long-term objectives.”
In pre-FDA validation studies, Light AI’s algorithm correctly diagnosed Strep A 97% of the time, on par with swabs.
To achieve this high level of accuracy, the firm built up a library of nearly 300,000 images of the back of the throat—quite possibly the largest database of pharyngitis images in the world. It is that dataset that Light’s AI analysis tech is trained on.
Light AI was founded by chief executive officer Peter Whitehead, a serial entrepreneur who has been involved in AI since the 90’s.
Whitehead believes that Light AI’s approach to applying AI to smartphone images can be expanded to other throat conditions, and even to other areas of analysis, such as the human eye and skin.
The company’s long-term vision is to combine the smartphone with AI-in-the-Cloud to create a “Digital Clinical Lab” that provides quick and accessible diagnoses for a wide array of conditions, including those which today require expensive and time-consuming imaging or lab processes.
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