How Bengaluru startup Dognosis is using canines to detect cancer

At a former pomegranate farm on the outskirts of Bengaluru, 15 dogs are helping build what could become one of India's most unconventional healthcare technologies.

The startup behind the effort, Dognosis, claims its specially-trained canines can detect multiple cancers from a person's breath, potentially offering a low-cost and non-invasive alternative to traditional screening methods.

The company recently published results from what it says is the world's largest breath-based multi-cancer canine detection study in the

Journal of Clinical Oncology, one of the most influential publications in cancer research.

The startup was founded by UC Berkeley researcher Akash Kulgod and former Israeli Special Operations K-9 trainer Itamar Bitan. The idea traces back to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kulgod says he first became interested in canine disease detection while watching his father, a doctor in Belagavi, struggle with overwhelming patient loads during the pandemic.

At the same time, studies from around the world were showing dogs could identify COVID-19 infections through scent, often with remarkable accuracy.

That sparked a larger question: if dogs can detect disease, why isn't the capability being used at scale?

For more than two decades, scientific studies have suggested dogs can identify disease-related volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, emitted through breath, sweat and urine. Dognosis set out to standardise that process using artificial intelligence and sensor technology.

The company's platform combines specially-trained dogs with proprietary hardware including an EEG-based canine helmet, a sensor-equipped harness and AI software that analyses the animals' responses.

Patients wear a face mask for 10 minutes, allowing breath samples to be collected. Three dogs independently evaluate the sample, while the company's technology records behavioural and physiological responses.

According to Dognosis, its phase 2 study involved 1,502 participants across six hospitals in Karnataka, including Narayana Health, Aster CMI, St John's Medical College Hospital, KIMS Cancer Research Institute, Karnataka Cancer Therapy and Research Institute (KCTRI), and Radon Cancer Centre.

The study reported more than 90% accuracy across seven cancer categories: head and neck, breast, lung and thoracic, gynaecologic, upper gastrointestinal, lower gastrointestinal and genitourinary cancers.

The company says the technology can identify cancers at early stages, potentially before symptoms emerge.

That challenge is particularly relevant in India, where a large proportion of cancer cases are diagnosed late. Dognosis cites estimates suggesting nearly 80% of Indians are diagnosed at stage III or stage IV disease, when treatment becomes significantly more complex and expensive.

Current screening programmes primarily focus on breast, cervical and oral cancers. Many other common cancers lack scalable screening options, especially in smaller cities and rural regions.

Dr BR Patil, Chief Surgical Oncologist at KCTRI in Hubballi and one of the clinicians involved in the study, says the next phase will focus on validating whether the dogs can identify cancer recurrence in treated patients.

"We are now in the phase wherein we can say the dogs can detect recurrence," Patil told CNBC-TV18. "If the dogs can detect this cancer coming back, it makes it easier for us to track patients who have been treated for cancer and could reduce the burden of repeated testing."

The company currently operates with 15 dogs, many adopted from shelters through partnerships with CARE and CUPA in Bengaluru, while others come from ethical breeders.

Unlike military or retired detection dogs, Dognosis trains its animals from scratch. Most are recruited between six and eight months of age and undergo specialised disease-detection training developed in-house.

While beagles make up a major portion of the canine team because of their strong scent-drive and food motivation, the founders say breed is less important than temperament and trainability.

Dognosis emphasises that all training relies on positive reinforcement. The dogs are rewarded with treats for identifying target scents and are never exposed to harmful substances.

The startup has already completed pre-seed and seed funding rounds backed by deep-tech and healthcare investors in India and the United States. Much of the capital has gone into building proprietary technology platforms, conducting clinical studies and expanding validation efforts.

The next stage is significantly larger

Dognosis plans to launch a prospective trial involving around 30,000 participants over the next 6-9 months, aiming to demonstrate that the system can detect cancer in asymptomatic individuals before conventional diagnosis.

The company has also begun pilot programmes with oncology network ClearMedi, which operates seven cancer hospitals across India. Screening kiosks are expected to be set up at these facilities as part of the pilot rollout.

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At the same time, Dognosis says it is engaging with regulators in both India and the United States and pursuing international laboratory quality standards as it works toward commercial deployment.

The company hopes to make the test broadly available by early 2027, though pricing has not yet been finalised.

Kulgod says affordability remains central to the business model. The goal, he says, is to create a screening tool that can reach millions of people who currently have limited access to early cancer detection.

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If future trials validate the early findings, Dognosis could find itself at the intersection of healthcare, artificial intelligence and one of nature's most powerful sensing systems: a dog's nose.