By Clinical Inforamtics News Staff

August 17, 2016 | Twenty-one hospitals across China will adopt Watson for Oncology, a cognitive computing platform for physicians to help them deliver personalized, evidence-based cancer treatment options. The initial 21-hospital rollout is part of a multi-year partnership through which Hangzhou CognitiveCare—a new Chinese company—will introduce Watson for Oncology to hospitals across China. This is Watson Health’s first partnership in China.

“IBM and [Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center] partnered staring in 2012 to create Watson for Oncology,” Kyu Rhee, VP and Chief Health Officer at IBM Corporation, told Clinical Informatics News via email. “Watson for Oncology analyzes medical literature and clinical records to provide insights and treatment options to physicians.”

IBM’s partner for the launch, Hangzhou CognitiveCare, “is an independent company that launched in January 2016 to bring cognitive solutions to the healthcare market in China,” Rhee explained. “HCC has China-based VC backing including eWell, an investor with health IT in China and has worked with influential Chinese government agencies and more than 1200 hospitals in China.”

HCC will provide sales, service, and customer support for deliver Watson’s insights for doctors in China. Watson for Oncology is currently available in English only, and CognitiveCare will provide some translation support to ensure the drug labels and treatment guidelines are available to customers in appropriate Chinese dialects. Additionally, CognitiveCare will localize dosing based on Chinese medical guidelines.

Cancer is the leading cause of death among China’s population of 1.4 billion. In 2015 alone there were 4.3 million new cancer cases and more than 2.8 million cancer deaths in China. It is estimated that the country is experiencing approximately 12,000 new cancer diagnoses each day.

Watson for Oncology hopes to help by drawing from a massive corpus of information, including more than 300 medical journals, more than 200 textbooks, and nearly 15 million pages of text to provide recommendations about different drug options and administration instructions. Its machine-learning capability means it is continually learning over time.

The initial 22 hospitals adopting Watson for Oncology in China are: SUN YAT SEN University Cancer Center, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Wuxi People Hospital, Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Tianjin Third Central Hospital, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Xuanwu Hospital Capital Medical University, Shanghai Punan Hospital, Guangzhou Women And Children’s Medical Center, Panyu Maternal and Child Care Service Centre of Guangzhou, Guangzhou Panyu Central Hospital, Guangdong Province Traditional Chinese Medical Hospital, General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Command of PLA, Guangzhou Traditional Chinese Medicine First Affiliated Hospital, Zhongshan Hospital Xiamen University, Fuzhou Second Hospital, Fujian Provincial Hospital, Ningbo Fourth Hospital, Affiliated Zhongshan Hospital of Dalian University, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, and Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province.