NanoRay Biotech: Taiwanese R&D Leader Revolutionizing X-Ray Applications

A true pioneer in its field, NanoRay has built a solid reputation for being at the forefront of Taiwan’s X-ray technological innovation. After years of research and development, NanoRay’s transmission X-ray tube technology is revolutionizing its field with 80% radiation reduction, 90% less power consumption, 60° wider beam angle, 4 times higher light emission efficiency and superior image quality.

NanoRay’s unique technology focuses on three main application areas: cancer therapy, medical imaging and industrial inspection, where it is making great strides in producing and manufacturing single energy light products with high market application value and 100% made in Taiwan.

First, NanoRay’s patented transmission X-ray tube technology is set to become an invaluable tool in the treatment of cancer, as it can induce with great precision, safety and efficiency the “Auger effect” on cancerous DNA, a novel target radiotherapy treatment known as AMT, Auger Molecular Therapy.

As explained by Mr. Maick Su, CEO of NanoRay Biotech, AMT is a “first-in-human” combination therapy that applies IuDR, an iodinated analog of thymidine that can be used as a component of DNA replication and thus incorporated into cancerous DNA, followed by local irradiation with a “characteristic X-ray,” a 33 keV monochromatic beam similar to synchrotron radiation that is generated by NanoRay’s patented transmission tube: “With this technology, we inject the drug directly into the cancer cell, which uses it as part of its building blocks. Then, with our monochromatic X-ray, we target the drug into the DNA, causing it to break.”

Until now, cancer therapy based on the Auger effect had only been tested in animals, but NanoRay’s portable-sized transmission tube has made synchrotron radiation beam cancer treatments combined with IuDR possible in humans. As a result, in 2022 the “first-in-human”, Phase 1 clinical trial of AMT received IND approval from both the US and Taiwanese FDA, and is scheduled to begin soon at Taipei Medical University Hospital. Once completed, NanoRay will start looking for pharmaceutical companies to move on to subsequent phases.

NanoRay has also developed safer technology that reduces the dose of medical diagnostic imaging, while offering more efficient and cost-effective imaging options. With its unique patented X-ray tube technology, NanoRay created RevoluX, a revolutionary hand diagnostic radiology system that integrates AI to deliver quick diagnosis of bone age, bone density and gout detection, and could be expanded to other applications with any AI requiring such data.

Given the product’s low radiation dose, integrated radiation shielding design and portable size, it is perfectly suited for children and the elderly, as well as patients with mobility issues. “We want our machine to be able to go into any clinic or nursing home so that patients can get a diagnosis within seconds without having to go through a hospital. We want to eliminate that process and go directly to where the patients are,” Su says.

Thanks to these innovative features, RevoluX received the German iF Design Award in 2021, the Taiwan Excellence Award in 2022 and was certified by the U.S. FDA that same year, where it already has a distributor.

In addition, it recently obtained certification in Malaysia and Thailand, will be certified in Singapore in 2025 and is in talks with companies in South Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines. But this is just the beginning.

Next year, NanoRay will launch its prototype baby X-ray, which promises to reduce exposure by at least 50%, and could be expanded to fluoronoscopy applications in the future. Above all, while NanoRay will continue to dream big, it will do so with the same commitment to innovation, quality and service that has made it the revolutionary company it is today.