ADELAIDE, Australia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Australian X-ray technology company Micro-X will develop a world-first full-body mobile CT following the award of an up to US$16.4m (A$25m) development contract from the US Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). 
The contract to develop a lightweight and portable full body CT comes under the US Government agency’s Platform Accelerating Rural Access to Distributed and Integrated Medical Care (PARADIGM) program. PARADIGM aims to address the current challenges in accessing rural health, by creating a scalable vehicle-based platform that provides advanced medical services out of hospital.
ARPA-H will fund the development of the medical device over five years, subject to ARPA-H option, through to FDA premarket submission (501k).
Using Micro-X's small but powerful Nano Electronic X-ray (NEX) Technology X-ray tubes, the company aims to deliver a full body CT weighing just 225 kilograms, compared to conventional CTs that weigh more than 2000 kilograms. This technology has previously been advanced through Micro-X development contracts awarded by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Australian Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).
Conventional CT holds the largest share (approximately 30%) of the global medical imaging market and is the current medical imaging standard for a wide range of diagnoses including cardiac imaging, trauma diagnosis, cancer screening, and lung screening.
Micro-X Chief Executive Officer Kingsley Hall commented: “Micro-X continues to go beyond boundaries to challenge the constraints of legacy X-ray and deliver solutions that meet the needs of customers, users and patients.”
Micro-X’s CEO US and Chief Scientific Officer US Brian Gonzales said: “ARPA-H’s vision for the PARADIGM Program is closely aligned with Micro-X’s vision to create revolutionary X-ray imaging to better lives. We are extending hospital grade imaging beyond the boundaries of conventional hospitals to bring a vehicle mounted Full Body CT solution to rural communities."
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About Micro-X
Micro-X Limited is an ASX listed hi-tech company developing and commercializing a range of innovative products for global health and security markets, based on proprietary cold cathode, carbon nanotube (CNT) emitter technology. The electronic control emitters with this technology enables x-ray products with significant reduction in size, weight and power requirements, enabling greater mobility and ease of use. Micro-X has a fully vertically integrated design and production facility in Adelaide, Australia. A growing technical and commercial team based in Seattle is rapidly expanding Micro-X’s US business.
Micro-X’s product portfolio spans four, high margin, product applications in health and security. The first mobile digital radiology products are used for diagnostic imaging in global healthcare, military and veterinary applications. The US Department of Homeland Security has contracted Micro-X to design a next-generation Airport security checkpoint. A brain CT imager for pre-hospital stroke diagnosis in ambulances, is being developed with funding from the Australian Government’s Medical Research Future Fund. A full body CT is being developed with funding from US Government agency ARPA-H.
Contacts
Media contact: Head of Corporate Communications Rebecca Puddy, rpuddy@micro-x.com +61 403 861 112.