USA – Iterative Scopes announced it has raised US$150 million in Series B funding round on to accelerate the development of its core algorithmic innovations for gastrointestinal (GI) disease care.

Insight Partners and Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. (together with certain of its affiliates, “Clearlake”) co-led the round, which was also joined by returning investors Obvious Ventures, Johnson and Johnson Innovation Inc., Eli Lilly, Breyer Capital, and other industry and financial leaders.

The latest funding comes shortly after the company raised US$30 million in a Series A round in August 2021, bringing the total amount raised in 2021 to US$182 million, demonstrating investors’ confidence in Iterative Scopes’ strategy as it gains traction as the emerging market leader in AI-driven precision gastroenterology, with a focus on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colorectal cancer prevention.

The latest round of funding will be used to accelerate the development of AI technology products and services by expanding the company’s technical and clinical operations teams.

The funds will also be used to support Iterative Scopes’ AI recruitment service, which assists drugmakers in accelerating their IBD clinical trials by combining AI-driven algorithms and computer vision advances.

“[Our] computational software automates calculation of a patient’s minimal threshold score of disease severity to aid in determining qualification for pre-screening,” the company said.

Furthermore, the funding will help support its automated polyp detection tool SKOUT, which aims to improve and standardize endoscopic video insights to better assist gastroenterologists in identifying suspected pre-cancerous lesions.

SKOUT is already CE-marked in Europe, and data from a clinical trial conducted with the tool was recently submitted to the FDA in the form of a 510(k) filing.

Iterative Scopes announced a collaboration with Eli Lilly on AI applications for IBD clinical trials last year. The initial focus was on advancing Iterative Scopes’ machine learning algorithms to improve on current endoscopic clinical study endpoint assessments.

Precision medicine technology has provided fewer benefits to GI practitioners than it has to those who treat other serious illnesses such as cancer and infectious diseases.

Current endoscopic procedures are error-prone and subjective, resulting in wide variations in interpretation and clinical trial delays.

Patients experiencing new and chronic gastrointestinal problems have been underserved by the technology available today,” said Lonne Jaffe, Managing Director at Insight Partners.

Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence, Iterative Scopes’ formidable technology is designed to enhance gastrointestinal patient care by making it easier and quicker than ever for physicians to interpret test results and diagnose issues,” he noted.

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