OracleBio’s ethos is to foster closer collaboration between pharma and CROs in digital pathology. In 2025, the company aims to leverage quantitative digital pathology services to support pharma and biotech R&D.
A typical process involves a pharma company or histology CRO sending images to OracleBio. These images are uploaded to AWS, then loaded into OracleBio’s image management system, where pathologists and image analysts evaluate the slides. Challenges still exist, such as incorrect file formats, scan magnifications, or channel names.
Lorcan Sherry, Chief Scientific Officer of OracleBio, pointed out that recent innovations, especially AI-driven tools, have improved data quality, workflow efficiency, and enabled automated tissue and artefact detection. These advancements have taken some burdens off digital pathologists and reduced manual labour and errors.
Algorithm development is highly customised for diverse studies, often requiring further training and refinement to address specific tissue types and staining heterogeneity. Commercial platforms (Visiopharm, Indica Labs Halo) are used by OracleBio but algorithms are further refined for specific client studies. Additionally, cloud infrastructure is becoming more widely adopted across the biopharma industry. The key benefits of cloud infrastructure are its rapid analysis processing, which enables scalable, parallel batch processing and faster data delivery to clients.
OracleBio offers flexible service models, including fee-for-service and FTE models, allowing clients access to various expertise. The FTE model provides flexible access to OracleBio’s collective expertise, with remote deployment into client environments and shared learning opportunities. Sherry concluded that a more integrated relationship between pharma and CROs, especially via the FTE model, can boost R&D impact.
