Naitive Secures Funding to Expand Osteoporosis Screening Tool

Naitive Technologies, a population health company, has secured £334K co-funding from Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, under the Biomedical Catalyst competition, to increase the accessibility of its osteoporosis screening technology, OsteoSight.

Every year, osteoporosis leads to 37 million fractures and costs health systems billions¹. It is widely underdiagnosed and undertreated, and uptake of screening, which uses a dedicated scan called a DEXA, is low². Many cases are diagnosed when it's too late, and a fracture has already occurred. Opportunistic screening could hold the key to changing this picture.

Researchers at Naitive Technologies have invented a technique powered by artificial intelligence that extracts new, clinically valuable information from these routine X-rays without requiring additional equipment or physician time. By opportunistically screening X-rays, OsteoSight automatically estimates a person's bone mineral density (BMD), a key indicator of bone health, and informs the interpreting physician if a patient is at risk of low BMD. 

The Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst co-funding of this project will allow Naitive to increase the number of people who stand to benefit from opportunistic screening with OsteoSight by incorporating spine and chest X-rays into their platform. Currently, the technology can be used on hip and pelvis X-rays, and by adding spine and chest X-rays, the team will be able to reach more than an additional 40 percent³ of all X-rays performed. OsteoSight's expansion into spine and chest X-rays produces another benefit. 

Dr. Will Briggs, CEO of Naitive, said, "We are thrilled to announce that with the support of Innovate UK, Naitive is able to increase the accessibility of our osteoporosis pre-screening tool. This expansion means that millions more people stand to benefit from an improved care pathway and a significantly enhanced ability to detect and manage their osteoporosis."

This most recent grant follows a host of other announcements by Naitive, including another Innovate UK funded project announced in December 2023⁴ and the designation of Breakthrough Device by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)⁵.

Naitive is a venture-capital-backed enterprise at the forefront of population health innovation. Focusing on musculoskeletal health, the organizations specializes in advanced digital technologies that enhance clinical capabilities in the detection, diagnosis, treatment, and management of chronic diseases.  

Learn more about Naitive at naitive.com