OXFORD, United Kingdom and HOUSTON, Aug. 26, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Optellum, a global leader in AI for lung health, today announced the world’s first thorax CT foundation model built for precision lung care in real-world settings – an ambitious initiative aiming to revolutionize the early detection and management of lung diseases, with an initial focus on lung cancer.
Unlike traditional AI systems built to deliver a narrow range of task-specific outcomes, Optellum’s foundation model is trained on large-scale, diverse thorax CT datasets. This includes clinically validated datasets from the University of Oxford-led DART project1 research programme, which integrates the world’s largest lung cancer screening CT scan dataset with linked clinical and molecular data. Optellum’s unparalleled access to data has contributed to the robust development of the foundation model, which enables multiple clinical tasks – from early diagnosis and risk stratification to longitudinal monitoring and clinical trial acceleration.
The urgent need for change
Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States and worldwide, claiming more lives each year than breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers combined. According to the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), more than 2.5 million people worldwide will be diagnosed in 2025, and over 1.9 million will die from the disease.
While screening programs save lives, they do not reach everyone who develops lung cancer. Many cancer patients never meet screening criteria, and new trends in lung cancer, such as increasing incidence in non-smokers, never smokers, and in younger adults, are not yet reflected. Additionally, uptake and adherence to screening protocols remains low (18-20%, in the US). As a result, too many diagnoses still occur at late stages, when survival rates are drastically reduced. For those who receive a late-stage diagnosis of lung cancer, the five-year survival rate is only 9%, in comparison to when the disease is detected early, and the five-year increases to 64%.
Optellum is focusing on thorax CTs because they capture a complex anatomical area via an essential imaging modality available at hospitals worldwide. Thorax CTs enable detection and diagnosis of many lung diseases including cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), interstitial lung disease, and pulmonary fibrosis, and a multi-disease AI model will accelerate clinical care.
A unique position to deliver
Optellum’s existing technologies, Virtual Nodule Clinic and Lung Cancer Prediction AI, are FDA-cleared, CE-marked, and UKCA-marked medical devices with reimbursement in the US. They are deployed in health systems around the world, identifying patients with incidentally detected lung nodules and providing an AI-powered malignancy risk score that supports more stratification and better clinical decision-making.
With this foundation model, Optellum aims to expand its impact far beyond lung nodule management and risk prediction, accelerating discovery and delivering intelligent, scalable solutions for multiple thoracic diseases.
“Early detection saves lives. Too many patients are still diagnosed late and miss the best chance for curative treatment,” said Johnathan Watkins, PhD, CEO of Optellum. “In the US alone, over 125,000 people will die from lung cancer this year, and over 145,000 will die from chronic lower respiratory diseases – many without ever having been eligible for screening. By learning from one of the largest and most diverse thorax CT datasets in the world, and applying cutting-edge AI, we will equip clinicians and researchers with powerful tools to detect disease earlier, better guide precision treatment, and ultimately save more lives.”
Building the future of AI-enabled clinical pathways
The project is driven by Optellum’s team of world-class AI researchers, in-house clinicians, and multi-disciplinary clinical advisors (including pulmonologists, radiologists, thoracic surgeons). The foundation model is supported by proprietary models, deep clinical experience, access to large, deidentified datasets, and deep partnerships with academic and clinical collaborators. Optellum has a culture of continuous improvement and welcomes further collaboration with hospitals, academic institutions, and forward-thinking investors who share the vision for equitable, intelligent, and scalable lung health care.
About Optellum
Optellum is a commercial-stage AI healthcare company dedicated to revolutionizing early diagnosis and treatment of lung disease, starting with one of the deadliest, lung cancer.
Optellum’s flagship product, Virtual Nodule Clinic (VNC) with Lung Cancer Prediction AI (LCP), is the world’s first and only FDA-cleared and reimbursable software-as-a-medical-device (SaMD) solution for AI-powered lung cancer prioritization and diagnostic support. Clinicians trust the Optellum solution to aid them in making the most appropriate life-saving treatment decisions for their patients. Backed by real-world clinical evidence, Optellum’s solution accelerates the diagnostic care pathway by enabling early patient identification, enhancing prioritization, and improving clinicians’ efficiency, reducing time to guideline-recommended treatment. Optellum VNC is FDA cleared, CE-MDR marked, and UKCA marked.
Optellum is headquartered in Oxford, UK, and has an office at the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas, US.
For more information, visit optellum.com or connect on LinkedIn.
Media Contact
James Hounsell
Evolene Ltd, on behalf of Optellum
Email: [email protected]
SOURCE Optellum
