Canadian firm to sell mammography CAD

A Canadian biotechnology company is negotiating for rights to market a mammography computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) workstation under development in the U.S. The workstation is scheduled to be introduced as a work-in-progress at this year's Radiological Society of North America meeting.

Qualia Computing of Beavercreek, OH, is developing the workstation, called CADx. The system is designed to provide a backup to mammographers by identifying microcalcifications and suspicious images. CADx employs image enhancement techniques and neural network software. Many of the Qualia engineers working on the project have experience developing pattern recognition systems for the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH.

Qualia has reached an agreement-in-principle to license exclusive rights to CADx to Briana Bio-Tech of Edmonton, Alberta. Briana has agreed to fund development of CADx and provide royalty and milestone payments.

When the workstation reaches the market, it could become a competitor to systems being developed by firms such as Scanis of Mountain View, CA, and R2 Technology of Los Altos, CA. R2 began European sales of its ImageChecker system earlier this year (SCAN 4/16/97).