NIGERIA – Medical imaging disrupter Nanox has announced signing of a new deal to send 1,000 of its digital X-ray systems and companion cloud service software to West Africa.

The Israeli firm is partnering with EiLEENO Pharma, a Nigeria-based medical supply and equipment organization founded in 2018.

Under the distribution deal, Nanox will deploy its Nanox Systems and cloud-based software across Nigeria.

The medical imaging market is projected to reach US$693.4 billion by 2024 from US$539.7 billion in 2019, at a CAGR of 5.1% from 2019 to 2024.

The major factors driving the growth of this market include the rapidly growing geriatric population and the subsequent increase in the prevalence of associated diseases and growing awareness about early disease detection and the widening scope of clinical applications.

The African imaging market is highly competitive and consists of several major players. Nanox will be competing against major suppliers such as Canon Medical Systems Corporation, GE Healthcare, Hitachi Ltd, Koninklijke Philips NV among others.

Ran Poliakine, chairman and CEO of the imaging startup, called West Africa a prime target market, marking a key step toward increasing the availability of medical imaging and screening across the globe.

“The agreement with EiLEENO Pharma will allow us to support Nigeria’s population, enabling the nation to run high-volume screening campaigns cross-country,” Poliakine said in a statement.

Nanox is aiming at making medical imaging as commonplace and accessible as water or electricity, readily available to all communities everywhere.

Nearly two-thirds of the world’s population still lacks access to medical imaging, according to the World Health Organization. Both companies hope to close that equity issue with this agreement.

“This will drive affordability of medical imaging in Africa towards the goal that each Nigerian carries out comprehensive medical checks at least once a year to proactively manage their health and help promote preventive healthcare,” Edward Egede, managing director and CEO of EiLEENO Pharma, said.

In this year, Nanox has made remarkable strides toward growing their enterprise. The startup gained U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance for its Nanox.ARC system back in April.

Nearly one month ago, the company submitted a premarket application seeking federal clearance for its multi-source digital tomosynthesis system.