[Click eStock] "Lunit, Scope Value Expansion Phase"

NH Investment & Securities analyzed on the 19th that Lunit has entered a phase of expanding the value of Scope, an imaging biomarker solution related to cancer treatment.

Lunit signed a strategic collaboration agreement with global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to develop an artificial intelligence (AI)-based digital pathology solution targeting non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) indications.

Seung-yeon Han, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities, explained, "This is a contract utilizing the Lunit Scope Genotype prediction platform developed earlier this year," adding, "It predicts the possibility of NSCLC EGFR mutations using only H&E slide images, which is the most basic tissue staining method in pathological diagnosis." He continued, "The platform will be applied to AstraZeneca's pathology diagnostic workflow," and "It is expected to replace molecular diagnostics such as next-generation sequencing (NGS) and PCR used for detecting EGFR mutations."

Han emphasized, "This is the first achievement of Lunit Scope's business owner signing a contract with a big pharma headquarters since its launch in overseas markets last year," and "It confirms technological superiority in that it signed a contract with a global leader in the anticancer drug field."

He further analyzed, "Platform contracts of medical AI companies are similar to technology exports of biotech firms," and "It is planned to verify the achievement of research milestones through actual collaboration over six months to one year."

He noted, "Attention should be paid to the possibility of expanding cancer types when the main contract with AstraZeneca is signed," explaining, "AstraZeneca has pipelines including ADC and immuno-oncology drugs besides Tagrisso."

Han stressed, "The fact that the possibility of contracts with other big pharma companies is open depending on the results with AstraZeneca is a strength of the AI platform," and "It is an additional factor that will increase corporate value."