Not all cancer patients need chemo — Ataraxis AI raised $20M to personalize treatment

Artificial intelligence is a big trend in cancer care, and it’s mostly focused on detecting cancer at the earliest possible stage. That makes a lot of sense, given that cancer is less deadly the earlier it’s detected. But fewer are asking another fundamental question: If someone does have cancer, is an aggressive treatment like chemotherapy necessary? That’s the problem Ataraxis AI is trying to solve. The New York-based startup is focused on using AI to accurately predict not only if a patient has cancer, but also what their cancer outcome looks like in five to 10 years. If there’s only a small chance of the cancer coming back, chemo can be avoided altogether — saving a lot of money, while avoiding the treatment’s notorious side effects. Ataraxis AI now plans to launch their first commercial test, for breast cancer, to U.S. oncologists in the coming months, its co-founder Jan Witowski tells TechCrunch. To bolster the launch and expand into other types of cancer, the startup has rais ... Read full article.