Digital Pathology: The Future Is Here

Players in the biotech and pharma industries have historically engaged in a relentless race to bring new drugs to market faster. However, drug development progress has always suffered bottlenecks caused by inherent limitations in conventional nonclinical pathology practices. Researchers have long dreamed of data instantly at their fingertips, AI-assisted decision-making, and geographically unrestricted collaborations, but these ideas were at one time more science fiction than science. This is no longer the case. With the advent of digital pathology, researchers can now accelerate data delivery and analysis to make more informed decisions, faster than ever before.

Digital pathology encompasses histology slide scanning, digital imaging, and image analysis of tissue samples, reducing the reliance on physical slides. This shift offers a treasure trove of benefits for contract research organizations (CROs) and drug developers alike. Let's delve into how digital pathology is advancing timely and efficient data collection and analysis, ultimately speeding up drug development.

Time and Cost Considerations of Traditional Pathology

The average toxicology program involves the assessment of 30,000 slides. Slide shipments involve tedious and time-consuming inventories and packaging. Shipping costs can easily amount to thousands of dollars, and physical slides are vulnerable to breakage and misrouted shipments. In-person peer reviews are costly and require time-consuming travel for pathologists, impacting productivity and extending timelines. Delays and losses put a drug program not only at risk of missing important milestones, but they can also ultimately put the reputation of an organization and even patient safety at risk.

Streamlined Workflows and Enhanced Collaboration

Digital pathology minimizes the need for physical transportation of slides and people. Researchers can access high-resolution digital images remotely, fostering collaboration between geographically dispersed teams. This translates to faster turnaround times for nonclinical pathology data analysis and reporting. Charles River connects our ~150 pathologists around the world via an integrated slide management system utilizing a suite of digital slide scanners. Digital pathology enables them to perform assessments of slides located thousands of miles away in a matter of minutes instead of days or weeks and without the costs of hotels, flights, and myriad other travel expenses.

Earlier Data-Driven Insights

We recently launched our integrated toxicology (ITox) Kansas site, boasting ten-day turnaround times from study start, made possible through a streamlined approach to expedite lead optimization and de-risking, straddling the space between Discovery and Safety Assessment. By digitally tracking study material using an integrated barcoding system and utilizing high-throughput slide scanning, imaging, and digital pathology assessments, urgent go/no-go decisions can be made with real-time data access via Charles River's Apollo™, a secure cloud-based platform. The application of digital pathology is a critical component revolutionizing the non-GLP toxicology landscape, as embodied by Charles River Kansas.

Improved Data Quality, Consistency, and Preservation

Digital pathology images can be standardized and analyzed using algorithms, reducing variability and human error inherent in traditional microscopy. This consistency ensures the quality and reliability of data, leading to more robust drug development programs. Pathology digitization also plays a crucial role in data preservation. Digital pathology images are immune to physical degradation such as loss of fluorescence, ensuring that high-quality images remain intact and accessible indefinitely. The adequate preservation is crucial for reliable drug development, as it leads to more accurate and reproducible results, and safeguards valuable data for future research.

Advanced Analytics with Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI algorithms can analyze vast amounts of digital pathology data, rapidly identifying subtle patterns and biomarkers that may be missed by the human eye. Pathologists are unburdened from the laborious, repetitive aspects of their analyses, while AI facilitates slide review prioritization, resulting in more efficient reviews of Discovery, Lead Optimization, and General Toxicology studies. This allows for a deeper understanding of diseases and the potential impact of new drugs. Charles River recently launched Patholytix Foresight, a non-clinical artificial intelligence (AI) decision support tool developed in collaboration with Deciphex, an innovator in pathology AI. Patholytix Foresight empowers pathologists with AI-driven insights, streamlining workflow efficiency, and ensuring the utmost accuracy in study reviews. By harnessing the power of digital pathology and AI, Patholytix Foresight helps pathologists identify important lesions faster, rapidly guiding the prioritization of compounds for longer-term general toxicology studies, with the potential to save drug development time.

Reduced Costs and Increased Efficiency

Digital pathology mitigates the risks and inefficiencies caused by dependence upon physical slides. Additionally, the efficiency gains from faster turnaround times and streamlined workflows translate to cost savings for CROs and drug developers. By enabling faster, more efficient, and data-driven analysis of tissue samples, digital pathology empowers researchers with high-quality data in minimal time. The promise of digital pathology no longer dwells in the realm of possibility - it is actively revolutionizing the drug development landscape and delivering on its promises to facilitate faster, life-saving treatments for patients.

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