An algorithmic tool for reading mammograms, developed at AIIMS New Delhi, is leaving the laboratory. An Indian equipment maker, BPL Medical Technologies, will now own it.
BPL takes over development and validation. The software is being adapted to run inside the company’s own mammography machines.
Institute radiology staff and BPL’s finance chief attended the handover in Delhi.
Reach is the point of the deal. The partners say the aim is making the tool available outside major medical centres, including tier 2 and tier 3 cities where specialist radiologist cover is thin and women may travel long distances for screening. BPL’s Ajay Jindal said AI is becoming a routine part of medical imaging and should help radiologists catch disease earlier.
Handing validation and manufacturing to a device maker is an unusual route to market for academic medical AI, which more often stalls as a published model with no product behind it. It puts the work on a path toward regulated deployment.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Indian women, and most cases are still found late. Screening capacity, not model accuracy, has been the binding constraint. That is why putting an algorithm directly on a scanner appeals: it travels wherever the scanner goes.
