Medical imaging encompasses various technologies, and French startup Gleamer is making strides in the field, particularly with AI-powered tools. After successfully developing AI solutions for X-rays and mammographies, Gleamer is now setting its sights on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
To expedite its entry into this market, Gleamer has acquired Caerus Medical, a startup that has already been working on AI-powered MRI analysis. In addition, Gleamer is merging with Pixyl, further strengthening its capabilities. These strategic moves place Gleamer among the second wave of startups using artificial intelligence to enhance medical imaging.
Founded in 2017, Gleamer has built an AI assistant for radiologists, functioning as a “copilot” to improve diagnostic accuracy when interpreting medical images. The company’s software solution has gained adoption in 2,000 institutions across 45 countries, with 35 million examinations processed to date. Gleamer has secured CE and FDA certifications for its bone trauma interpretation product and offers CE-certified products for chest X-rays, orthopedic applications, and bone age measurements in Europe.
Christian Allouche, Gleamer’s co-founder and CEO, explained the company’s approach to TechCrunch: “Unfortunately, the one-size-fits-all approach to radiology doesn’t work. It’s very complicated to have a large model that covers all medical imaging and delivers the level of performance expected by doctors.” This has led the company to create specialized teams. Their recent mammography product, developed over 18 months and based on a proprietary AI model trained on 1.5 million mammographies, was released three weeks ago. Gleamer also leverages a partnership with Jean Zay, the French government’s GPU cluster, and is working on CT scans for cancer detection.
Regarding MRI, Allouche noted, “MRI is a different technological space. You have a lot of tasks in MRI. It’s not just detection; you’ve got segmentation, you’ve got detection, you’ve got characterization, classification, multi-sequence imaging.” The acquisitions of Caerus Medical and the merger with Pixyl are designed to accelerate Gleamer’s progress in this field. Allouche stated, “These two companies will become our two MRI platforms, with the clear ambition of covering all use cases over the next two to three years.” The financial terms of these deals have not been disclosed.
Preventive Medical Imaging
While Gleamer’s AI models show promising potential, they are continuously being improved. For example, the new mammography model claims to detect four out of five cancers, compared to a human radiologist without AI assistance who typically identifies cancer in three out of five cases. The potential for increased productivity offered by AI tools like Gleamer could transform medical imaging.
Allouche envisions a future where routine whole-body MRIs could become commonplace, potentially reducing the need for reactive imaging. He states, “In the not-too-distant future, I think we’ll all be getting routine whole-body MRIs paid for by our insurance companies — since they’re not irradiating.” However, in some locations, there’s already a shortage of radiologists. If the shift toward preventive imaging occurs, AI tools will likely be indispensable. Gleamer’s CEO also believes that AI could evolve into an “orchestrating and triaging” tool.
Allouche explains that most medical imaging examinations are currently performed to rule out diagnoses. “So, there’s a real need to automate all this with a very solid AI model that has a much higher level of sensitivity than a human,” he said.
