Owkin expands in Spain with IDISBa bringing AI to improve cardiovascular disease outcomes

Owkin and Fundación Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Islas Baleares (IDISBa - the Health Research Institute of the Balearic Islands) today announce a new partnership aiming to use artificial intelligence to improve patient outcomes.

Miguel Fiol, Scientific Director of IDISBa, says:

One of the main objectives of IDISBa is leveraging personalized medicine, AI and innovation.

He thinks the partnership with Owkin will support the center in their goal to improve the health of the local population that they serve. The first research project in this collaboration aims to use AI to improve therapeutic strategies for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a progressive and usually hereditary disease in which the heart muscle becomes weakened or stiff, making it harder to pump blood around the body. Genetic diseases are often perceived as rare, but it is estimated that most common inherited hypertrophic cardiomyopathy affects about 1 in 500 people in the world. A large percentage of patients remain undiagnosed.

IDISBa carries out world leading research in the correlation between phenotype and genotype in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and their relationship with sudden death, across the Balearic Isles.

Tomas Ripoll, Head of the Cardiology Department at IDISBa, explains:

We have a very high prevalence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in our region. If patients can get a correct diagnosis in an early phase, the patient will access the right treatment earlier and it will greatly improve their potential outcome.

This, Tomas says, is especially crucial for rare conditions, where AI can help clinicians accelerate this process. Owkin is also supporting IDISBa in structuring an AI-ready database alongside a data management strategy to securely power future medical research initiatives in the region.

Pau Pericas, Manager of IDISBa’s Health Data Research Platform, says:

Healthcare methods are changing faster than we can conceive. Partnership with external partners like Owkin is a good way for us to learn how these solutions are being developed. AI has the potential to help make more precise diagnosis and prognosis, along with reducing time to analyze results, which could help patients access the right treatment faster than ever before. We look forward to using the methodologies we learn from working with Owkin to answer big questions in the future.

This is the second partnership agreement for Owkin in Spain, expanding its existing network across Europe and North America. The TechBio company is rapidly expanding its operations in the country, aiming to build a hub for research thanks to Spain's impactful research community and excellent healthcare coverage.

Francisco Torres, Owkin’s Partnerships Director for Southern Europe, says:

Spain has exquisite patient management, a free, extensive healthcare system that covers pretty much everything. Having the technology is the first step, but enabling this technology to impact patients requires partnering with centers like IDISBa to provide their clinical expertise and high quality data.

Carlos Enrique, General Manager at IDISBa, adds:

The collaboration with Owkin gives us a new perspective on how to combine our existing clinical work with AI to implement new solutions with the aim to achieve better patient outcomes. They opened our view on how to collaborate with the private sector and how to try to develop new research lines with the use of AI for our researchers and our clinicians.