Press release

Aging Seniors to Reap Long-Term Health Benefits from Edmonton-Based Artificial Intelligence Project

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Sponsored by Businesswire

Health City is pleased to announce a unique collaboration with
Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd., which also includes physicians and
local companies. The project will leverage artificial intelligence (AI)
to examine data as a means to better predict frailty and its impact on
chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.

Frailty is the most concerning reality of our aging population.1
It is estimated that approximately 1 in 4 older adults are at imminent
risk of becoming frail and are at a greater risk for declining health,
higher health care utilization, and loss of independence.2 However,
if frailty and risk for chronic disease can be identified earlier, there
is an opportunity to intervene and improve care pathways for patients
and positively impact their health.

At the heart of the project is the development of a tool that can
facilitate how front-line providers are able to identify patients
earlier in order to provide appropriate patient-centred interventions to
support healthy aging.

AltaML, a local AI and machine learning company, will develop the
machine learning algorithms to pull together the different data sets,
uncovering predictions and patterns to solve key questions that
physicians are asking patients. “We are thrilled to be part of the
project at the ground-level,” says AltaML CEO Cory Janssen. “In order to
apply AI to any sector, we have to have a clear understanding of the
problem. Working directly with the physicians and the other partners on
this project means that we can develop a better and more robust
solution.”

Including local organizations like these early on will allow them to
test their solutions in a real-world setting which will enable
scalability outside the region.

“Our mandate is to drive economic development through innovation in the
health sector in this region and this project is the first example of
the kind of model we believe will do that,” says Health City CEO, Reg
Joseph. “We’re excited that our partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim
allows us to bring together this collaborative team from our vibrant
health community to solve this very real challenge for our senior’s
population, locally and nationally.”

The goal is to enable healthcare teams to proactively identify patients
who could benefit from more individualized care and evidence-based
interventions such as fall prevention, medication review, or social
service interventions to help further mitigate frailty.

We are committed to delivering innovative healthcare
solutions that reflect our commitment to serve current and future
healthcare needs,” says Richard Mole, President and CEO, Boehringer
Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd. “Together with Health City, insights gained from
the use of AI will help to address the needs of aging seniors in in the
city of Edmonton, allowing them to manage their conditions more
independently. “

“This is such a significant collaboration on so many levels for this
city,” says Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson. “When I launched Health City in
2016, I knew that our region had the ability and opportunity to benefit
from our world-class health research and innovative spirit. I am looking
forward to more investment and jobs in this sector that result in
economic prosperity for this region and ultimately impact the health and
well-being of our citizens.”

About Health City
Health City is a non-profit, municipal
economic development initiative created to connect, promote, catalyze
and accelerate innovation in the health sector in Edmonton and
surrounding region. Health City works with our community to create a
vibrant health industry with health and social outcomes for our
citizens. Our focus is on transforming innovations from our health
ecosystem into solutions that have commercial application and global
relevance; adopting them for impact in Edmonton and scaling them for
export to global markets. For more information, visit www.edmontonhealthcity.ca.

Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd.
Improving the health of
humans and animals is the goal of Boehringer Ingelheim, a
research-driven pharmaceutical company. In doing so, the focus is on
diseases for which no satisfactory treatment option exists to date. The
company therefore concentrates on developing innovative therapies that
can extend patients’ lives. In animal health, Boehringer Ingelheim
stands for advanced prevention.

Family-owned since it was established in 1885, Boehringer Ingelheim is
one of the top 20 companies in the pharmaceutical industry. Some 50,000
employees create value through innovation daily for the three business
areas of human pharmaceuticals, animal health and biopharmaceuticals. In
2018, Boehringer Ingelheim achieved net sales of around
17.5 billion euros. R&D expenditure of almost 3.2 billion euros,
corresponded to 18.1 per cent of net sales.

As a family-owned company, Boehringer Ingelheim plans in generations and
focuses on long-term success. The company therefore aims at organic
growth from its own resources with simultaneous openness to partnerships
and strategic alliances in research. In everything it does, Boehringer
Ingelheim naturally adopts responsibility towards mankind and the
environment.

The Canadian headquarters of Boehringer Ingelheim was established in
1972 in Montreal, Quebec and is now located in Burlington, Ontario.
Boehringer Ingelheim employs approximately 600 people across Canada.

More information about Boehringer Ingelheim can be found at www.boehringer-ingelheim.ca
or in our annual report: http://annualreport.boehringer-ingelheim.com.

About AltaML
AltaML builds transformational software for
business, powered by machine learning (ML). We partner with
organizations using a co-development model where we can provide
technical and strategic expertise on how to leverage their data with
AI/ML to deliver significant ROI and new forms of competitive advantage. https://www.altaml.com/

References:
1. Clegg A, Young J, Iliffe S, Rikkert MO,
Rockwood K. Frailty in elderly people. The Lancet. 2013;381(9868):752–62.

2. Song X, Mitnitski A, Rockwood K. Prevalence and 10‐year outcomes of
frailty in older adults in relation to deficit accumulation. J Am
Geriatr Soc. 2010;58(4):681–7.

Rockwood K, Fox RA, Stolee P, Robertson D, Beattie BL. Frailty in
elderly people: an evolving concept. CMAJ Can Med Assoc J.
1994;150(4):489–495.