IBM, Apollo Hospitals' Ink Pact to Offer Personalized, Evidence-based Cancer Care

NYSE-listed IBM and Apollo Hospitals, one of India’s largest specialty hospital systems, have joined forces to enable the latter adopt Watson for Oncology and Watson for Genomics, the two IBM cognitive computing platforms, that will help physicians provide patients with personalized, evidence-based cancer care. This agreement is the first-of-its-kind Watson for Oncology & Watson for Genomics deployment in India.

A recent World Health Organization report suggests that there are an estimated 9.49 lakh new cancer cases in India annually, accounting for more than 6.34 lakh deaths related to cancer each year. As per the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), there would be close to 17.3 lakh cancer cases likely to be reported in India by 2020, accounting for more than 8.8 lakh estimated number of deaths by 2020.

At this outset, Apollo Hospitals will build on its long legacy of clinical excellence with dedicated cancer care hospitals in India by implementing Watson for Oncology and Watson for Genomics across 10 of its 64 hospitals. Watson for Oncology will be available at the Apollo Chennai and Delhi hospital from April 2018, followed by Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneshwar and Madurai over the next few months. Watson for Genomics, on its parts, will be made available across the same locations in the following months. The Watson for Oncology and Watson for Genomics solutions will help oncologists at Apollo surface relevant data to bridge disparate sources of information and identify treatments that are personalized to each unique patient.

The collaboration with Apollo Hospitals reflects IBM’s ongoing commitment to partner with leading healthcare providers across the world to leverage the power of artificial intelligence to support cancer care. By using IBM Watson for Oncology and Watson for Genomics the physicians at Apollo Hospitals will be empowered with efficient, data-driven insights for improved evidence-based care to give physicians more time to focus on their patients, said Lisa Rometty, General Manager of Oncology, Genomics and Life Sciences, IBM Watson Health.