Ezra does not own any MRI machines but partners with existing radiology centers. The company's AI, built on a database of 10 million MRI images, cleans up the scans and increases sharpness, reducing the time patients spend in the scanner. Despite the potential benefits, there is skepticism about who will cover the costs of these scans, as health insurers typically only cover what is medically necessary. Ezra's CEO, Emi Gal, believes that data about the rate of false positives will eventually convince detractors and insurers.
Key takeaways:
- Bryan Johnson, a biohacker and tech founder, is a strong advocate for full-body MRI scans as a preventative measure for detecting potential health issues. He is a regular customer of New York-based startup Ezra, which uses AI to speed up the process of full-body scans.
- Ezra has recently raised $21 million in venture funding to make full-body scans mainstream. The company does not own any MRI machines but partners with existing radiology centers. Its AI technology, Ezra Flash, has been cleared by the FDA to speed up scans of the brain.
- Medical experts, however, are concerned that full-body MRI scans could lead to overtreatment and overdiagnosis, causing unnecessary stress and costs for patients. They argue that not all cancers are the same and many are indolent, meaning they have a very low likelihood of spreading or shortening life expectancy.
- Despite these concerns, Ezra's CEO, Emi Gal, believes that the benefits of knowing and the cost of monitoring outweigh the risks of false positives. He hopes to reduce the cost of a 15-minute scan to around $500 in about two years, making it more accessible to a wider range of people.