Alibaba’s research team, Damo Academy, has received special recognition from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its AI-powered cancer detection tool. This tool, called Damo Panda, uses artificial intelligence to help doctors detect pancreatic cancer early. Because of its potential, the FDA gave it a “breakthrough device” label. This means the tool can go through the approval process faster.
Damo Panda was first introduced in November 2023 through a study published in the medical journal Nature Medicine. It can find early signs of pancreatic cancer in people who don’t show any symptoms.
The AI model was trained using over 3,200 CT scans of people with pancreatic cancer. Tests showed that Panda was 34.1% more accurate than human doctors in detecting the disease.
Alibaba has already tested Damo Panda in China. At a hospital in Ningbo, the tool screened 40,000 people and found six early-stage cancer cases, including two cases missed by regular check-ups.
Damo Academy, founded in 2017, focuses on advanced technologies like AI and open-source computer chips. The team is now working with companies such as Ankon Medical Technologies to expand the use of the AI tool in China and internationally.
AI has become a powerful tool in medical imaging. Studies show that AI can often match or even do better than doctors in analyzing images. It can also improve the quality of medical images.
Alibaba is one of several Chinese tech companies investing in AI for healthcare. For example, Huawei recently introduced a large AI model with Ruijin Hospital to support cancer diagnosis. Huawei has also created a new team to focus on medical technology.
These efforts show how Chinese tech firms are working to play a bigger role in global healthcare using AI.
Source: scmp
