New clinical trials coming to Lubbock, thanks to TTU, Deep 6 AI

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Imagine the frustration if you are facing an aggressive cancer and you know there are new drugs or a new device that could help, but how are you going to get it in Lubbock Texas?

The answer could be artificial intelligence, thanks to a new program soon to be launched through University Medical Center and the Texas Tech University System.

Dr. John Griswold, a burn surgeon, is also the Executive Director for the Clinical Research Institute at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.

He is in charge of implementing a new program that could bring many area patients an answer to prayer. In a program called Deep 6 AI, they are using artificial intelligence to search through large amounts of data and organize it quickly.

He explains, “This particular program helps us look through all the patients that we have and find patients that might benefit from some of the cutting-edge programs and clinical trials we have cutting edge drugs that they might need for their cancer or their heart failure.”

Ordinarily, looking for the right patient who could benefit using a new device or a new drug is a tedious process.

“We know we’re missing people who could benefit so much from many of these programs,” Dr. Griswold said.

But now, Deep 6 AI will save time and when something new could treat an aggressive cancer, time is precious. Dr. Griswold says, “Deep six AI will help us look within just a click of a button for patients who might be candidates so that we can approach them and see if they’re interested.”

There are already programs out there that can search for coded data, but Dr. Griswold says Deep 6 AI goes beyond the code.

“It searches the coded data, and the written word data that healthcare providers are providing and pulls that all together. So, we know that we’re not missing a patient that might benefit.”

He says the benefit to area patients will be huge, perhaps life-changing for families throughout the Texas Tech System. The safe and approved therapies will start with clinical trials at UMC, helping patients avoid the long wait they could normally face before trying a new drug.

Dr. Griswold says, “These patients may have to wait seven to 10 years for them to be available. Now they can participate in these programs and get the benefit of those drugs. And many times it’s free.”

Dr. Griswold says they hope the Deep 6 AI program will be up and running sometime this fall, but for sure by the end of 2023.

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