AI‑Powered MRI for IBD Clinical Trials | IAG, Robarts, & Eli Lilly Partnership
Eli Lilly, IAG, and Robarts are collaborating to validate AI‑enabled MRI biomarkers for Crohn’s disease, with IAG leading imaging and AI, Robarts providing IBD trial expertise, and Lilly integrating new imaging endpoints into drug development.
AI‑Powered MRI for IBD Clinical Trials Eli Lilly, IAG and Robarts Advancement
London, UK, May 8, 2019 – Image Analysis Group (IAG), a strategic imaging partner for biopharma, has entered into a collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company and Robarts Clinical Trials, Inc. to validate how advanced MRI and artificial intelligence (AI) can accelerate development of novel therapies for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The collaboration aims to use quantitative imaging biomarkers to optimize trial design, patient selection and assessment of treatment response in Crohn’s disease.
AI‑Powered MRI for Crohn’s disease
The partners will analyze MRI data from patients with Crohn’s disease, a major form of IBD, to develop targeted strategies for more efficient, patient‑centric treatments. Using state‑of‑the‑art quantitative imaging methodologies, the goal is to generate sensitive, reproducible biomarkers of intestinal inflammation and treatment response.
IAG brings deep scientific and clinical imaging expertise in inflammatory diseases, using proprietary methodologies to identify more specific and sensitive imaging biomarkers for inflammation‑driven conditions.
Partner Roles With Image Analysis Group (IAG), Eli Lilly and Robarts
Image Analysis Group (IAG) will lead imaging strategy, centralized review and AI‑enabled image analysis, using its DYNAMIKA™ platform and experience across immune‑mediated inflammatory diseases to define regulator‑ready imaging endpoints. Robarts Clinical Trials, a global CRO focused on IBD, will contribute clinical expertise, patient‑focused insights and robust clinical data to support endpoint validation in Crohn’s disease and other IBD populations. Eli Lilly, a research‑based pharmaceutical company, will bring imaging and clinical expertise to integrate these innovative imaging endpoints into drug development programs for people living with IBD, ensuring that the collaboration’s quantitative MRI biomarkers translate into meaningful therapeutic advances.
Together, the three partners will create an integrated AI‑enabled imaging framework for IBD clinical trials, turning MRI data into robust, regulator‑ready biomarkers that can be scaled across future studies and therapeutic programs.
Why Does Imaging and AI Matter in IBD Drug Development?
Conventional IBD assessments still rely heavily on subjective visual scoring of inflammation and endoscopic findings, which can introduce variability between readers and slow early decision‑making in clinical trials. This subjectivity makes it harder for sponsors to detect subtle but clinically meaningful treatment effects, often requiring larger sample sizes and longer studies.
By contrast, MRI‑based, AI‑driven quantitative biomarkers can provide precise, reproducible measures of intestinal inflammation, treatment response and radiographic patient phenotyping, reducing noise in the data and strengthening the sensitivity of trial endpoints. When integrated into protocol design from the outset, these imaging biomarkers help de‑risk go/no‑go decisions, support adaptive designs and generate more robust evidence packages for regulatory submissions.
“We believe that use of the right imaging and quantitative methodologies has the potential to accelerate early drug development by providing greater precision than conventional assessments, which heavily rely on subjective visual scoring of inflammation in images. Smart ways of using data will enable the life sciences industry to increase the speed and quality of innovation, while saving costs.” Olga Kubassova, Ph.D., CEO, IAG
Partner Perspectives on Impact for People with IBD
The collaboration between Image Analysis Group, Eli Lilly and Robarts Clinical Trials is designed to generate meaningful, actionable imaging data that can be translated into new tools, response criteria and endpoints for current and future IBD trials. By aligning quantitative MRI, AI‑enabled analytics and deep clinical expertise, the partners aim to build a framework that can be extended beyond this program to benefit the broader IBD research community.
“We are excited to bring together novel methodologies and years of scientific expertise to generate meaningful and actionable data,” said Ajay Nirula, M.D., Ph.D., Vice President, Immunology at Eli Lilly. “Our hope is this collaboration will produce new insights and tools that will ultimately benefit people living with IBD.”
Brian Feagan, M.D., chief scientific officer at Robarts Clinical Trials, highlights the opportunity for more personalised care: as more high‑quality imaging data and AI‑driven analytics become available, physicians and scientists will be able to make faster, more objective decisions and move toward tailored treatment strategies for individuals with luminal and fistulising Crohn’s disease. This includes better patient stratification at baseline, more accurate assessment of mucosal healing and the possibility of biomarker‑guided therapeutic optimisation over time.
About Eli Lilly and Company
Eli Lilly and Company is a global research‑based pharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes innovative medicines across immunology, oncology, neuroscience, diabetes and other chronic diseases. Eli Lilly combines advanced science, data and technology to deliver new therapies that improve outcomes for patients worldwide and to support partners across the drug development lifecycle.
About Robarts Clinical Trials
Better Medicine is an Estonian medical AI company developing CE-certified software tools that support earlier, faster, and more accurate cancer detection in radiology. Clinically its BMVision platform integrates into routine CT imaging workflows to automatically detect, measure, and classify oncological findings, beginning with kidney tumours, helping radiologists improve diagnostic efficiency and reduce the risk of missed lesions. Expanding beyond this into clinical trial workflows the company also provides multi-organ AI driven lesion segmentation tools on CT scans to automate repetitive tasks for oncology trials and research. Founded in 2020, Better Medicine collaborates with leading hospitals and research centres across Europe, the UK, and other regions to advance AI-supported cancer diagnostics and patient outcomes.
About Image Analysis Group (IAG)
Image Analysis Group (IAG) is a global imaging clinical research organization (iCRO) specializing in designing and running imaging-centric clinical trials across oncology, immunology, neurology, rare diseases, and musculoskeletal conditions. Through its proprietary cloud-native platform, DYNAMIKA, IAG combines centralized imaging workflows, expert readers, and AI-powered endpoints to deliver high-quality, regulatory-ready imaging data that accelerates drug development and reduces trial risk. IAG partners with biotech and pharma sponsors worldwide to optimize imaging strategies from early proof-of-concept through pivotal and real-world evidence studies.
Media contact:
Marie Fussell
IAG Communications Lead
Press@ia-grp.com
If you are planning an inflammatory bowel disease or Crohn’s disease clinical trial that will use imaging to assess safety or efficacy, connect with Image Analysis Group (IAG) to explore how AI‑enabled MRI and quantitative imaging biomarkers can strengthen your trial design, endpoints, and regulatory strategy.
Our team can help you integrate centralized imaging review, advanced analytics, and global operational support from early protocol discussions through to database lock and readout. Contact us at contact@ia-grp.com or visit our website to discuss your upcoming study.
