Source: https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/07/22/22/filipinos-helping-develop-early-cancer-detection-systems-intervenn
MANILA — US-based InterVenn Biosciences Philippines on Friday said its team of Filipino engineers is helping create new technologies in healthcare in the field of early cancer detection, its Filipino co-founder said.
The company is based in the Bay Area in San Francisco, California but the team that maintains the AI technology is “made up of mostly Filipinos residing in the Philippines,” co-founder and CEO Aldo Carrascoso said.
“InterVenn has made significant progress in early cancer detection thanks to the brilliant and dedicated Filipino engineers we have on board,” said Carrascoso, who is also an artificial intelligence and machine learning expert.
He said Filipinos maintain the front end, back end and cloud infrastructure of the company’s next-generation liquid biopsy.
It opened an office in Ortigas Center in Pasig with the goal of expanding its local team of developers and engineers “that form the backbone” of its proprietary AI technology used in research, InterVenn said.
It currently has over 100 Filipinos in its workforce.
Carrascoso told local media that he conceptualized the company after being “blindsided” by the disease in the family. The company’s work aims to make health services widely accessible and affordable, he added.
One hundred percent of its software is proudly Philippine-made, InterVenn Philippines General Manager Axel Kornerup said.
“We started this venture with the goal of not just having the means of finding a cure and early detection for cancer, but to also showcase to everyone that we Filipinos can achieve this on a global scale,” Kornerup said.
The company is developing a blood-based test to be used for matching cancer patients and immune-oncology therapy, as well a liquid-biopsy laboratory-developed test (LDT) for ovarian cancer diagnosis.