Month: November 2020

Amidst the current pandemic, the Israeli company’s stock prices soar. That is, despite having no revenue and FDA approval for its mobile CT scanners.

Nanox Imaging Ltd. (Nasdaq: NNOX) was able to mark up initial public offering by as much as 28%. The company was able to raise its IPO by $165.2 million, with a company valuation of $800 million. It happened even though Nanox has yet to report any revenue, and while their lightweight and mobile CT scanners do not have FDA approval yet.

In just two days, the company has reached a market cap of $1.185 billion. On just the first day of trading, the company’s share price rose up to 20.56%. The following day, the share price went up from 23.04% to 26.70%. This trend does not seem to stop anytime soon, though, as after-hours trading prices also had a 29% increase.

Nanox Imaging Ltd. was founded in 2012 by its current CEO Ran Poliakine. It is based in Neve Ilan, Israel, near Jerusalem. The company was able to raise $137 million even before the IPO from several foreign investors like Fuji, Jin Ji Full, SK Telecom, Industrial Alliance, Foxconn, and Yozma Korea.

The company developed a lightweight CT scanner that weighs only 200 kilograms. In comparison, most CT scanners in the market today weigh up to 2000 kilograms, giving it an edge in portability. Nanox developed a system that combines a digital X-ray device and an AI cloud-based software, named Nanox.ARC and Nanox.CLOUD, respectively. The new CT scanner can be produced for only $10,000, which is a tiny fraction of the cost of a regular CT scanner that can reach up to millions. The company’s pay-per-scan model of medical screening (MSaaS) allows greater coverage and accessibility to customers.

(Source: Globes.co)

In 2019, the CT scanner market was expected to have a value of more than US$ 5.23 billion. Experts predict the market to grow significantly in the next ten years, with an estimated CAGR of 5.1% from 2020 to 2030.

The expected growth of the CT scanner market stems from the increasing demand for less invasive diagnostic strategies worldwide. With various chronic diseases steadily increasing in number and the geriatric population only rising in number, there is a growing need for CT scanners to help treat these patients more comfortably while also improving diagnostic accuracy.

Major businesses and academic institutions have been researching and developing new products as they continue to contribute to the growing CT scanner market. However, certain factors such as increased maintenance and installation costs and the lack of properly trained professionals to use advanced CT scanner technology are restraining market growth to a significant extent.

The key players of the CT Scanner Market include Koninklijke Philips N.V., Hitachi, Ltd, Medtronic, VATECH, Siemens Healthcare Private Limited, GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, TOSHIBA IT & CONTROL SYSTEMS CORPORATION, Neusoft Corporation, SAMSUNG HEALTHCARE, and Accuray Incorporated, among others.

The growing number of cases concerning chronic and infectious illnesses around the world play a crucial part in the expected market growth of CT scanners. The World Health Organization (WHO) claims cancer is the second leading cause of death annually, with around 9.6 million deaths recorded from 2018 alone. Innovations in the CT scanner industry can help curb that number significantly by offering earlier detection and a minimally invasive alternative for treatment.

The fact that the older population is more prone to chronic diseases is another reason why experts are predicting a drastic increase in the CT scanner market. The rising geriatric population means there will be more of the elderly that will be at risk for infectious conditions, and CT scanners will be necessary to ensure they get properly and quickly diagnosed to ease the burden on the country’s healthcare systems while improving the overall health of the older populace.

The CT Scanner Market is segmented according to Product Technology, Application, and region.

 

Among the major technologies covered in the CT Scanner Market are the following:

• Low-Slice CT
• Mid-Slice CT
• High-Slice CT
• Cone Beam CT (CBCT)

 

On the other hand, the major applications of CT Scanner Market covers:

• Human Applications
• Research Applications
• Veterinary Applications

 

Key figures in the CT scanner market continue to come up with new products using technological innovations to improve image quality and lessen radiation exposure both to the patients and the medical professionals using the devices. For example, Koninklijke Philips N.V., presented the Incisive CT at the 2019 European Congress of Radiology to show the world how a CT scanner integrated with advanced imaging, workflow, and lifecycle management can positively affect the overall healthcare experience that patients receive while also improving the medical professionals’ decision-making skills by generating accurate and necessary patient data.

Research objectives:

• To study and analyze the global CT scanner consumption (value & volume) by key regions/countries, product type and application, history data.
• To understand the structure of the CT Scanner Market by identifying its various sub-segments.
• Focuses on the key global CT scanner manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the sales volume, value, market share, market competitive landscape, SWOT analysis, and development plans in the next few years.
• To analyze the CT Scanner with respect to individual growth trends, future prospects, and their contribution to the total market.
• To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges, and risks).

(Source: Medgadget)

The COVID-19 pandemic has strongly affected the world by changing the ways by which people can interact with each other. To lessen the threat that the coronavirus posed on people’s health, countries have adapted strict social distancing guidelines while enacting lockdown and quarantine strategies.

While these actions were supposed to keep people safer by having them stay at home, it appears that there have been cases where the quarantined person faced more danger due to intimate partner violence (IPV).

A Significant Increase in IPV Cases

Radiologists have been trying to help identify IPV-related injuries in recent years. A team led by radiology experts from Brigham and Women’s Hospital studied the patterns and severity of their patients’ injuries during the spring of 2020, and after comparing their assessments with results from the last three years, they found that the incidents showing IPV-related injuries have significantly increased this year.

Dr. Bharti Khurana, the director of Trauma Imaging Research and Innovation Center at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, used patient data collected between March 11 and May 3, 2020, to identify IPV-related cases. Their team went through radiology reports and images and identified potential IPV cases based on objective signs of physical abuse. By developing a grading system based on the severity and location of the patients’ physical injuries, the team was able to systemize the results and compare it with data records from the previous three years.

The team’s research led them to 26 cases in which victims suffered physical IPV-caused injuries in the spring of 2020, which is a drastic increase from the previous years’ numbers: only 20 were reported in the spring of 2019, 2018 only had seven cases, while 2017 had 15 incidents. Overall statistics showed the same trend, as 2020 had a total of 62 IPV victims of all types (physical and non-physical abuse); 2019 had 104 cases; 106 were reported in 2018; 146 was recorded for 2017. The injuries varied from superficial bruises, strangulation injuries, burns, and stab injuries, to more life-threatening cases such as weapon-induced injuries like knife cuts, gun wounds, and other objects resulting in deep internal organ damages.

The Pandemic’s Contribution to IPV Situations

The lockdown situation meant fewer people were going out, and as such, hospitals expected fewer imaging procedures to be done. However, even with the small number of imaging tests performed, the Emergency Department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Despite still encountered patients nursing severe physical injuries caused by their intimate partners.

Dr. Khurana believes that the pandemic is contributing to the rise of IPV cases not just due to the lockdown by also presenting what victims might identify as a bigger threat. “Overall, we saw a lower number of IPV victims with a greater number of deep injuries and signs of physical abuse, and this suggests to us that victims may be so fearful of COVID-19 that they aren’t reaching us until the abuse is severe,” explains Dr. Khurana. “We know that high-risk physical abuse and severe physical injuries are highly associated with homicide. Even in the middle of a pandemic, we need to recognize the signs of IPV and find opportunities to help patients in need.”

It’s time for health care professionals, including radiologists, to reach out to vulnerable communities in an attempt to lessen and possibly prevent IPV-related injuries, especially in this time of quarantine when victims have no other choice but to stay at home with their abusers.

(Source: News Medical)