Firm raises $80M toward rollout of whole-body scanner 10 times faster than traditional MRI
A California company hoping to revolutionize primary care—with a novel whole-body scanner it claims is 10 times faster than traditional MRI—recently ballooned its fundraising total to $80 million.
San Carlos-based Q Bio said this latest round of contributions comes from Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, with venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz also pitching in. The company this week also unveiled its new Gemini platform, which is able to create a “digital twin” of patients using its Mark I body scanner.
“Until now, no existing technology has been able to develop a digital twin in a cost-effective way that combines an individual’s genetics, chemistry, anatomy, lifestyle, and medical history over time, founder and CEO Jeffrey Kaditz said April 29.
Q Bio claims Mark I can scan the entire body in 15 minutes or less without subjecting patients to radiation, breath holds or claustrophobia. Its system relies on computational biophysics and is constructed using cheaper hardware, allowing for reduced operational costs, Q Bio said in its announcement.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.