AstraZeneca and Roche Diagnostics Asia Pacific have announced a three-year Memorandum of Understanding to advance digital pathology capabilities and elevate cancer care across nine Asian markets, marking the first collaboration of its kind in the region, according to PR Newswire.

The partnership aims to accelerate adoption of AI-powered digital and computational pathology through educational and training initiatives, with a particular focus on improving biomarker testing in breast and lung cancer across Singapore, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

Arun Krishna, Area Vice President for Asia at AstraZeneca, said: "This collaboration aims to address existing diagnostic gaps across the region. By combining efforts with Roche Diagnostics to advance education and adoption of AI-powered pathology, we can support the integration of precision diagnostics into the patient journey, helping to match more patients to the right treatment at the right time."

Lance Little, Head of Region at Roche Diagnostics Asia Pacific, said the collaboration is focused on strengthening diagnostic capabilities and accelerating the adoption of digital pathology across healthcare systems to enable more consistent and reliable diagnosis for patients with lung and breast cancer.

The initiative addresses a significant knowledge and adoption gap, with only 17% of clinicians considering themselves highly aware of advanced pathology technologies. In the Philippines alone, 60% of medical oncologists report that unavailability of biomarker testing has hindered clinical practice.

Globally, nearly half of all breast cancer cases and over 60% of new lung cancer diagnoses occur in Asia, underscoring the scale of the diagnostic challenge the collaboration seeks to address.

Access the full report for comprehensive details on the AstraZeneca and Roche Diagnostics Asia Pacific collaboration.