Bolstered by an $11 million fundraising and an expanded global footprint, Australian magnetic resonance imaging company Magnetica is gearing up to commercialize its novel asymmetric systems that greatly reduce the tunnel aspects of traditional MRI equipment.
A key enabling technology for the company is its intellectual property for compact, high-field superconducting magnets that enable smaller and more economical MRI systems which can be installed and operated in a range of new locations previously inaccessible to whole-body MRI systems. Shifting the imaging zone towards the patient chair or bed improves patient comfort by reducing how far the limb or head being imaged needs to be moved into the MRI system.
Specializing in the development of next generation MRI systems and technologies, including dedicated compact MRI systems and MRI system components, the company has been based in Brisbane since its inception in 2005. It has previously designed and commercialized 1.5-Tesla extremity MRI superconducting magnet that is now the heart of over two hundred MRI systems worldwide.
Through a continuing strategic partnership with The University of Queensland, Magnetica has developed more recently a 3T extremity superconducting magnet, gradient coil and RF coils. It has successfully built and tested the integrated 3T extremity MRI system, demonstrating clinical-quality imaging. It provides options for conduction or cryogen cooling with its systems. A conduction cooled magnet removes the need for a life-long liquid helium supply chain and a vent pipe required to exhaust gaseous helium to atmosphere when cryogen-cooled magnets quench.
“As we continue to gear-up for the impending growth phase of our business, we have outgrown our existing Brisbane-based facility in the suburb of Eagle Farm,” noted CEO Duncan Stovell in a recent update on the company’s progress. A new facility in the suburb of Northgate will have about triple the space.
In November 2022, the company consummated an $11.1 million fund raising to support its ongoing operations, primarily being the continuation of its compact musculoskeletal extremity MRI system commercialization activities. A key backer and majority shareholder is Avingtrans, an investment holding company based in Chatteris, UK.
The expanded global footprint emanates from Magnetica’s merger in 2021 with two other Avingtrans companies — superconducting magnet producer Scientific Magnetics in the UK, originally a spinoff from Oxford Instruments, and Tecmag, a Houston-based producer of advanced modular MRI systems. For more info, see www.magnetica.com.
