This is a new breakthrough in the fight against pancreatic cancer. The mAI Companion® medical device, which uses artificial intelligence to assist with pancreatic endoscopic ultrasound, has just obtained CE marking under the strict European Medical Device Regulation (MDR). Marketed by Medi-Globe, it is now available for clinical use in Europe.

The need for early detection

Pancreatic cancer is currently one of the deadliest and most difficult cancers to detect. Early identification of lesions is a real challenge with an impact on prognosis and patient outcome. mAI Companion® was developed to address this major clinical challenge.

A real-time “second set of eyes” for clinicians

Designed to integrate seamlessly into the endoscopist’s work environment, mAI Companion® acts as an intelligent assistant operating in real time. Its goal is to optimize the quality of the examination and the detection of pancreatic lesions through several features:

• Continuous anatomical guidance to maintain systematic coverage of the pancreas.
• Assistance in detecting lesions, providing the practitioner with immediate visual verification.
• Monitoring examination completeness, allowing at-a-glance visualization of the time spent on each area (head, body, and tail of the pancreas)
• Image and video recording to facilitate documentation and report editing.

Dr. Leonardo Sosa Valencia, Clinical Gastroenterologist, Digestive Echo Endoscopist, Medical Staff Manager at IHU, Strasbourg, France copyright: Medi-Globe GmbH / More information via ots and www.presseportal.de/en/nr/142441 / The use of this image for editorial purposes is permitted and free of charge provided that all conditions of use are complied with. Publication must include image credits.

mAI Companion® is an assistance tool, and the physician’s clinical judgment remains essential.

Technology transfer in record time

The mAI Companion® adventure perfectly illustrates the mission of the IHU Strasbourg, which is to accelerate the transfer of innovations to patients.

The research project began in 2021, with crucial financial support from the ARC Foundation for Cancer Research, under the leadership of Dr. Leonardo Sosa-Valencia, an expert in ultrasound endoscopy, and Prof. Nicolas Padoy, who heads the “CAMMA – Computational Analysis and Modeling of Medical Activities” team at the IHU. In 2022, the IHU established an R&D collaboration with the German company Medi-Globe to develop a prototype, which was transferred in 2023 to iGlobe Scientific, the joint venture created by the IHU Strasbourg and the German group Medi-Globe to accelerate product development.

Today, less than five years after the initial research work, the solution devised by the clinical and scientific teams has become a fully validated product, having undergone a complex regulatory process, CE MDR marking, and is now available on the healthcare market.

This achievement illustrates the IHU’s ability to respond concretely to medical needs by combining medical and scientific excellence with cutting-edge industrial expertise.

Training in excellence in echoendoscopy at the IHU Strasbourg

Technological innovation only comes into its own when it is mastered by practitioners. That is why the IHU Strasbourg is actively involved in the continuing education of international specialists. Through the ITEC (International Therapeutic Endoscopic Ultrasound Course), led by Dr. Leonardo Sosa Valencia, we offer intensive practical training in the most advanced therapeutic echoendoscopy techniques, incorporating the use of the latest innovations such as artificial intelligence.

Read the full press release, published on February 24, 2026:
https://www.presseportal.de/en/pm/142441/6222620

Discover the mAI Companion® project: Click here

Learn more about the ITEC course: Click here

On Thursday, February 12, the Strasbourg University Hospital Institute (IHU) opened its doors to a delegation of members from the BioValley France competitiveness cluster. This event, organized as a “Visit & Networking” session, reaffirmed the close ties between our institute and the major players in economic and industrial development in the healthcare sector in the Grand Est region.

An immersion in the heart of surgical innovation

Throughout the morning, participants were able to discover the infrastructure that makes the IHU a center of excellence in image-guided surgery. The tour highlighted the Institute’s technological platforms, which serve as interfaces between academic research and clinical application. This immersion offered manufacturers, startups, and academics in attendance a concrete vision of the IHU’s capabilities in supporting innovation, from proof of concept to technology transfer.

The IHU Strasbourg, accelerator of the regional health sector

BioValley France is the gateway to the Greater East health ecosystem, closely bringing together innovation stakeholders and structuring their collaborations.

In this context, the IHU Strasbourg has established itself as a key strategic partner, enabling the development, testing, and validation of innovations, and supporting players in the ecosystem to achieve higher levels of maturity and value creation.

Networking as a lever for future collaborations

Beyond the institutional visit, the morning was devoted to informal exchanges. These discussions provided an opportunity to address current health issues: the integration of artificial intelligence, the development of minimally invasive medical devices, and the challenges of health data. By welcoming these key players, the IHU Strasbourg reaffirms its position as a hub open to its ecosystem, confirming that medical excellence today is built on the convergence of clinical, scientific, and entrepreneurial expertise.

This visit is part of an open communication strategy: showing what we do, who we do it with, and how it benefits patients. By opening our doors, we are not only sharing our expertise, we are collectively building the healthcare sovereignty of tomorrow.

Learn more about Biovalley France: www.biovalley-france.com