Deciphex expands its Exeter digital pathology facility

The Deciphex UK digital pathology facility has expanded, tripling its capacity to meet the growing demand for digital pathology services.

Since December 2022, Deciphex has seen a 450% growth in demand for its digital diagnostic services in the UK. By tripling the capacity at the Exeter facilities, the company will boost its capacity to provide rapid, accurate and high-quality pathology services to multiple NHS trusts.

The Deciphex Exeter Accession Facility is the central hub for the processing, digitisation and upload of all biopsies to the Diagnexia Platform. The platform is connecting hospitals and laboratories to an international network of subspecialty expert pathologists who can provide their expertise on clinical cases.

By digitising their pathology practices, labs are able to streamline their workflows, reduce turnaround times and improve patient care and outcomes. The platform has the potential to reduce turnaround times from two to three months, to just two to three days, in comparison to traditional image analysis.

Professor Runjan Chetty, CMO of Diagnexia UK Limited, said: “The expansion of our Exeter facility is an exciting milestone for Diagnexia, as it enables us to further advance our mission of improving patient care through state-of-the-art digital pathology solutions. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with local healthcare professionals and organisations, such as Exeter Science Park, to drive innovation in the field.”

As well as the expansion of the facility, Deciphex has also created 30 new jobs this year. These two factors are boosting capacity and helping to remove key delays in disease diagnosis, status, progression and patient care.

The expansion was supported by South West Local Enterprise Partnership, through the award of the European Regional Development Fund Inward Investment Support Grant Scheme.

Steve Blunden, head of histopathology at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, attended the event to celebrate the expansion. He said: “Diagnexia’s investment in Exeter and the South West is testament to the region’s growing reputation as a hub for innovation and excellence in healthcare. We look forward to the opportunities this expansion will bring, both for the local economy and for improved patient care in the region.”

In January this year, Deciphex secured $3.9m funding to advance its digital pathology and AI services – bringing the company’s full Series B round to $14.4m.