Lunit and Summit Therapeutics Partner on AI-Powered Cancer Research

Lunit and Summit Therapeutics have entered into a research agreement to use artificial intelligence (AI) to study the tumor microenvironment and support the development of new cancer treatments. The collaboration will use Lunit’s SCOPE IO platform to analyze tumor tissue samples and explore factors that may influence how patients respond to immunotherapy.

Announced on October 23, 2026, the agreement will focus on Summit’s immuno-oncology research programmes involving ivonescimab, an investigational cancer drug being developed for several solid tumors.

Lunit’s SCOPE IO is an AI-powered pathology platform designed to examine tissue samples and identify patterns in cancer cells and surrounding immune cells. The platform analyzes whole-slide images stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E), a common method used by laboratories to examine tissue under a microscope.

Through the collaboration, the companies aim to better understand the tumor microenvironment, which includes cancer cells, immune cells, blood vessels and other surrounding tissues. These elements can influence how a tumor grows and how well it responds to treatment.

The research will explore whether AI-powered analysis can help identify biomarkers linked to treatment response, improve patient selection and provide deeper insights into the biology of cancer. Biomarkers are measurable features that may help researchers predict how a patient could respond to a particular treatment.

The platform is designed to extract detailed information from standard tissue images without requiring additional staining methods or laboratory tests. This could help researchers study large numbers of samples more efficiently and identify patterns that may be difficult to detect through conventional visual assessment alone.

Summit is developing ivonescimab, a bispecific antibody that targets both PD-1 and VEGF. PD-1 is a protein involved in regulating immune responses, while VEGF plays a role in the formation of blood vessels that supply tumors. By targeting both pathways, ivonescimab is designed to help the immune system attack cancer while also affecting tumor blood vessel growth.

Ivonescimab remains investigational in Summit’s licensed territories, including the United States and Europe, and has not been approved by regulatory authorities in those markets.

The agreement reflects the growing role of AI in pharmaceutical research and cancer drug development. By combining computational pathology with immuno-oncology research, Lunit and Summit hope to generate information that could guide future clinical development and help researchers understand why some patients respond better to treatment than others.

The companies have not disclosed financial terms for the research agreement. The results of the collaboration will help determine the potential value of AI-powered tissue analysis in advancing ivonescimab development and broader cancer research.