OXOS Medical has won a federal contract to develop a next-generation X-ray system, the portability of which could help during mass casualties and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) events.
OXOS Medical has been awarded a cost-share contract from the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), worth up to $24.4m if all options are exercised, to support it in meeting various US marketing needs for the system.
BARDA’s grant will support the development of Oxos’s namesake X3, an ‘ultra-portable’ X-ray system. Meanwhile, under the agreement’s terms, Oxos will match BARDA's funding, putting the overall project value at up to $48.8m.
OXOS already has multiple FDA-cleared medical devices, including portable X-ray systems. The OXOS X3 is intended to be a next-generation system, though exact technical details were not disclosed.
The grant proceeds will be applied to support X3’s ongoing development, verification and validation, towards manufacturing and the initiation of human factors studies – all of which are eventually anticipated to lead towards a regulatory filing of the system with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
X3 is under development to cut the complexities and wait times associated with X-ray acquisition via fixed radiology infrastructures in emergency departments and clinics. According to the company, the system’s impact will be felt beyond just routine care. In mass casualty events, clinicians will have better information as to who needs care first. It will also have utility in public health emergencies, including CBRN events, where accessible imaging helps triage patients quickly.
Evan Ruff, Oxos’s CEO, said: "When disaster strikes, the ability to image a patient quickly can determine who gets care first. We are proud to partner with BARDA to help bring the OXOS X3 into clinicians’ hands. Our goal is high-quality X-ray imaging that can go wherever patients are.”
Oxos is the latest company in the medtech space to have been awarded a BARDA contract in 2026. In September, the US government authority awarded a $70m grant to Flosonics to support the development of an AI algorithm within the Canadian company’s FloPatch wearable to help clinicians detect internal bleeding after traumatic injury. Meanwhile, BARDA expanded an existing contract with GE HealthCare by $35m in February to support the imaging giant’s ongoing development of imaging systems to support trauma assessment and preparedness for mass casualty incidents.
