Nanox raises $30M; ViewRay begins pulling stock from Nasdaq, plus more radiology vendor news
Manufacturer Nanox Imaging announced Monday that it has inked an agreement with a single institutional investor for the sale of more than 2.1 million shares of its company stock.
The Neve Ilan, Israel-based vendor said it hopes to close the transaction by July 26, netting gross proceeds of about $30 million. Nanox plans to use the money for “general working capital purposes,” further development of its products, and the deployment of its imaging system.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration earlier this year cleared the company’s Nanox.ARC system, which is a stationary X-ray machine that produces images of the human musculoskeletal structure.
ViewRay delisting from the Nasdaq
Following ViewRay Inc. filing for bankruptcy earlier this month, the vendor has received notice of its stock being pulled from the Nasdaq.
The stock exchange requires companies to be able to maintain a $1 per-share minimum, with ViewRay’s stock trading well below that figure on Monday.
Leaders said they do not plan to appeal the decision, anticipating that trading of its common stock will be suspended at the opening of business July 26. After that, ViewRay said its stock will continue trading on the over-the-counter market under the symbol “VRAYQ.”
“The transition to the OTC markets will not affect the company's intention to continue to operate in the normal course while in Chapter 11,” ViewRay announced July 24.
Based in Denver and founded in 2004, the vendor’s primary product, MRIdian, is the “world’s first” radiation therapy system integrated with diagnostic-quality MRI guidance.
MITA urges states to fix breast screening coverage gap
The Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance, a lobbying group representing device manufacturers, is urging states to eliminate cost-sharing for breast cancer screening exams.
MITA said Monday that it has sent letters to nearly a dozen local legislatures. The trade group wants states to help protect women from having to pay out of pocket for supplemental screening exams such as breast MRI and ultrasound.
Several bills already have passed this year in states including Missouri. Lawmakers also are pushing a national fix for this concern.
Rapid fire
A few more vendor news items of note, in rapid fashion:
- PACS vendor Infinitt North America Partners is teaming with artificial intelligence firm Us2.AI to offer a “state of the art” clinical workflow tool to streamline cardiac ultrasound measurements.
- Philips announced its Q2 earnings results on Monday, with a 12% increase in comparable sales across its Diagnosis & Treatment business line. The Amsterdam-based vendor saw double-digit growth in ultrasound and image-guided therapy and mid-single-digit growth in diagnostic imaging.
- Radiology AI vendor Aidoc recently announced partnerships with two large hospital systems—Northwell Health, in New York, and Ochsner Health in the Gulf South region.
- AppliedVR and the National Cancer Institute collaborated on research to evaluate virtual reality’s usefulness in reducing anxiety during brain imaging exams.
- An analysis in Academic Radiology explored the real-time performance of three commercial AI algorithms at detecting fractures in patients admitted to the ED.
- And finally, imaging IT and cybersecurity company Sectra has published its Annual Report and Sustainability Report for the 2022/2023 fiscal year.
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.