Imatron turns in disappointing results

South San Francisco ultrafast CT developer Imatron last month reported less than stellar results for 1998 (end-December). The company saw revenues of $30.7 million from the sale of 15 scanners, down 18% compared with last year’s $37.3 million on sales of 18 scanners. Imatron posted a net loss of $14.8 million, compared with a net loss of $11.4 million the previous year.

The firm’s results were affected by the continuing financial turmoil in Asia, traditionally a strong market for ultrafast CT. Imatron was also hit by its inability to sell ultrafast CT scanners itself in the U.S. and Europe during the first quarter of 1998 because Siemens was its exclusive distributor during that period. The company did best in the U.S., where it sold nine of the 15 scanners for the year.

In other Imatron news, an Associated Press article published on March 27 cited research claiming that conventional mechanical CT scanners with electrocardiogram gating can detect coronary calcification just as well as Imatron’s electron beam CT systems. The research was presented at a medical conference in Orlando, FL, sponsored by the American Heart Association, and was covered in several other sources, including The New York Times.

In addition, the company this month formed an alliance with its Japanese distributor, Imatron-Japan, and Japanese general trading company Marubeni to market Ultrafast CT in the Japanese market. Marubeni will provide capital to finance purchases of the scanners and has already assisted in two sales.