‘Billion dollar opportunity’: US DoD to fund ‘nuclear-free’ lung scanning pilot for 4DX

4D Medical’s (ASX:4DX) radioisotope-free CT:VQ lung scanning tech will form part of a U.S. Department of Defense-paid pilot leading into a formal FDA submission for approval. The company sees the chance to “displace the one million nuclear VQ scans performed each year… a billion dollar opportunity.”

4D Medical, which specialises in lung scanning technology, has a long-running history with the US DoD including former studies around veterans who had received lung damage from ‘burn pits’ – which are what they sound like.

As for its CT:VQ product capability announced in December, 4DX had been working toward a ‘safer’ way of imaging lungs, with a $1.9M grant secured to that end.

Under the pilot program announced on Monday, the DoD will not work with veterans but instead with active military personnel. The value proposition here for 4DX, in terms of the sheer size of the U.S. military membership, is fairly obvious.

“With over 200 military hospitals and clinics globally, the [Military Health Service] is tasked with providing high-quality, integrated healthcare to ensure the readiness and resilience of the U.S. Armed Forces,” the company reiterated.

Though, for now, it’s still small scale. Greater fruits will likely be borne if the ‘commercial pilot’ is deemed by DoD (or MHS) as a success. A total of 80 patients will form part of the first trial.

Of likely interest is 4DX’s CT:VQ scans allow for early detection of multiple lung conditions including CPOD and chronic thromboembolic hypertension.

“We are honoured to receive continued interest in the use of our technology from the DoD as a new pathway to enhance lung health outcomes for military personnel,” 4DX CEO Andreas Fouras said.

“CT:VQ is set to disrupt a billion-dollar segment of respiratory diagnostics by displacing Nuclear VQ imaging with a technology that is faster, safer, cheaper, more convenient and more accessible. We have been working for some time, leveraging hard-fought experience with existing products, to build an aggressive market adoption strategy.”

4DX last traded at 49.5cps.

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