Chicago — October 13, 2024 — GE HealthCare will take a leadership role in Synthia, a consortium project to evaluate synthetic data generation methods, both for the creation of synthetic datasets and for their use in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. GE Healthcare will join other healthcare industry organizations including Gates Ventures, NovoNordisk, and Pfizer and we well as academic partners including La Fe University, Fraunhofer Institute, and the University of Bologna as part of an effort that will focus on building new synthetic or synthesized datasets to be used to train AI algorithms.

Data is the cornerstone of AI product development from development to deployment. Synthetic data, artificially generated to replicate real patient data, could serve as a valuable alternative to overcome challenges such as the scarcity of real datasets, biased or non-generalizable training data, and privacy concerns. However, the use of synthetic data also raises questions about the reliability of data generation tools and the quality of these datasets.

The Synthia project aims to evaluate and deliver proven methods, standards and frameworks to build reliable tools for synthetic data generation and their use in the development, training and validation of AI algorithms. It brings together expertise from healthcare providers, academics and industry to address the challenges of algorithm development with synthetic data along legal, ethical and regulatory considerations, while exploring methods to increase the availability of high-quality training datasets.

The goal is for data generation workflows, assessment frameworks to help evaluate privacy, quality and applicability to the generated database will be made available to the research community via a platform. The platform will be intended to host a repository of high-quality synthetic data sets, each of which will be labelled with its suitability for specific applications.

The tools developed through Synthia will cover multiple data types including lab results, clinical notes, genomics, imaging and mobile health data and allow the generation of longitudinal data. The project will address six diseases to assess the usefulness of synthetic data in oncology (lung cancer, breast cancer), hematology (multiple myeloma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma blood cancers), neurology (Alzheimer’s disease) and metabolic health (type 2 diabetes).

Ultimately, the platform could help to build trust among stakeholders regarding the usefulness of synthetic data and facilitate the responsible use of synthetic data by the health research community.

Gopal Avinash, PhD, VP, AI Smart Devices, GE HealthCare, said: “Leveraging AI and data integration technologies is vital to tackle the rapidly increasing volume of patient data. Yet healthcare data remains complex and requires careful annotation to be used in research and product development. Synthetic data has huge potential to enhance research and product development in healthcare by augmenting available data. Along with GE HealthCare’s AI strategy, synthetic data can help mitigate bias and drifts in algorithms and reduce privacy risks. Synthetic data can also help speed up the development of robust and generalizable AI models in the healthcare domain. We are excited to explore and develop these methods while enhancing [industry?] standards and guidelines to build safe and effective synthetic data models with our expert collaborators within Synthia.”

Guillermo Sanz, Scientific Director at IlSLaFe, Hospital Universitario y Politécnico la Fe, said: “In the era of precision medicine where treatments target specific gene mutations, new tools are essential to protect patient data privacy. Whole genome sequencing, digital imaging, and electronic health records represent an individual’s unique ID, all of which are crucial for providing the best possible care. Yet safeguarding personal data privacy is non-negotiable. Generating effective synthetic databases through artificial intelligence is the only viable way to uphold privacy while advancing precision medicine. Generation of efficient synthetic data bases by using artificial intelligence is the unique way to pursue the goals of maintaining data privacy while offering the tools to advance in precision medicine.”

“The SYNTHIA project, a pioneering public-private partnership, is the first IHI initiative to address this urgent need. SYNTHIA envisions to generate data bases that could be used by the European Medicines Agency to authorize the design of new single arm clinical trials to be used for the approval of more efficient new drugs. This approach will not only speed up patient access but also help reduce the cost of therapies. SYNTHIA is dedicated to this mission for the benefit of EU society, and IISLaFe, Health Research Institute La Fe, is honored to coordinate this innovative Project,” he added.

“We are honored and humbled to be working alongside world-leading experts across clinical and data science domains, both public and private. The program objectives align well to our ambitions to build safe and effective AI technology, whilst ensuring we are maximizing the potential of synthetic data,” said Amied Shadmaan, Director, AI & Clinical Collaborations at GE HealthCare.

Synthia is part of the Innovative Health Initiative (IHI), a public-private partnership between the European Union and the European life science industries. Project Number: 101172872. The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme and COCIR, EFPIA, Europa Bío, MedTech Europe, and Vaccines Europe and contributing partners. GE HealthCare’s participation builds on their strong track record of AI research and innovation. Recent research publications from GE HealthCare includes patents on Deep neural network based identification of realistic synthetic images generated using a generative adversarial network, Synthetic training data generation for improved machine learning model generalizability or Medical machine synthetic data and corresponding event generation

GE HealthCare Media Contact:

Delphine Benoit

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About GE HealthCare Technologies Inc.

GE HealthCare is a leading global medical technology, pharmaceutical diagnostics, and digital solutions innovator, dedicated to providing integrated solutions, services, and data analytics to make hospitals more efficient, clinicians more effective, therapies more precise, and patients healthier and happier. Serving patients and providers for more than 125 years, GE HealthCare is advancing personalized, connected, and compassionate care, while simplifying the patient’s journey across the care pathway. Together our Imaging, Ultrasound and Image Guided Therapy, Patient Care Solutions, and Pharmaceutical Diagnostics businesses help improve patient care from diagnosis, to therapy, to monitoring. We are a $19.6 billion business with approximately 51,000 colleagues working to create a world where healthcare has no limits.

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Source : Gehealthcare