Sci-Fi Inspired X-Ray BioBed Garners $26-Million Investment

Foxconn joins Fujifilm and SK Telecom to fund Israel-based Nanox, a medical imaging technology company, in its effort to produce X-ray machines reminiscent of science fiction.

With its $26-million investment, Foxconn brings the funding Nanox has raised to date to $55 million for the development, commercialization, and deployment of the Nanox System, including the Nanox.Arc, a unique digital X-ray device that is coupled with companion artificial-intelligence (AI) cloud-based software Nanox.Cloud.

The Nanox.Arc is a portable, light-weight X-ray system that scans the patient head-to-foot as he or she lies on a bed – much like the biobeds depicted in the Star Trek television series. The low-cost device, priced at roughly $10,000, is intended for early detection via X-ray and other X-ray based imaging, including CT, mammography, fluoroscopy, and angiogram.

The ultimate goal, according to Nanox chief executive officer Ran Poliakine, is a 1x1x1 initiative – a preventive care solution that involves one screening per one symptomatic patient per year.

“We’re looking to standardize medical imaging with our 1x1x1 initiative for preventive healthcare,” he told Diagnostic Imaging. “Therefore, we want to offer the Nanox.Arc at no cost, only through a paying-per-scan model. Social impact is the core of our vision, as we’re aiming to solve the issues surrounding accessibility, and the eradication of a multitude of serious conditions and diseases, by pushing towards preventative treatment and early detection.”

Post-scan, the Nanox.Arc transmits patient data to the system’s cloud platform for secure image analysis. That evaluation is, then, available globally with AI-supported decision-making tools to radiologists, hospitals, and other clinicians for timely diagnosis and real-time care.

Overall, the Nanox system, according to company information, is intended to be an end-to-end medical imaging service, including image repository, radiologist matching, online and offline diagnostics review and annotation, connectivity to diagnostic artificial intelligence systems, billing, and reporting.

Nanox is currently seeking regulatory approval. Once that is secured, the company hopes to deploy 15,000 systems globally.