Just too good to be true

Steven Koepke, who goes by koepkesd @ Stocktwits and Steven @ Yahoo, has been busy reading this blog while trying to justify the lies by the Nanox CEO that somehow the $200 (or $100, depending on the day) Nanox.Tube can replace the $150,000 modern CT tube (these are "list prices," of course).

For the longest time I was trying to figure out how Ran can claim that his field emitting device (FED) can generate x-rays on par with the high end x-ray tubes used in CT machines. Those large tubes can generate 800 to 1,000 mA at 120 kV. They also cost $120,000-$150,000. Here is the math. The MEMS (FED) chip has an active area of 0.126cm^2 (4mm diameter on chip in diameter and the power level was communicated at 2.5A/cm^2. The power is concentrated down via focusing device onto the tungsten anode. The basic math provides the power of the beam to be 314mA and 120 kV (per conference call last week). That's quite close and running multiple sources in parallel amplifies the power. Cost comparison: 5 small tubes @ $100 vs $150,000 for singe large CT device tube. Micro-X has a similar arrangement working today with a CNT device (also Field Emitting Device)

 

So, what's wrong with his reasoning?

There is no such thing as a field emitting device.  FED refers to a failed display technology -  a field emitting DISPLAY.  It does not contain "a field" of emitters, as Nanox CEO believes - it emits electrons induced by an electrostatic field.  It is not a more efficient or a cooler way to generate x-rays - all x-ray tubes, whether using a cold cathode (based on the field effect) or a hot cathode (using a hot filament) to emit electrons, have about 1% efficiency as 99% of the energy applied to the tube gets wasted as heat at the anode.  A hot filament uses a lower voltage - about 4V - than the 40V (or way more) needed by a cold cathode.  Roentgen discovered x-rays in 1895 using a cold-cathode (gas discharge) tube.  GE invented the hot-cathode x-ray tube in 1913 and obliterated the cold-cathode ones.

The proposed Nanox.Source chip is not MEMS, as there is nothing mechanical about it.  The chip is not real, or commercially available, of course, as Nanox has no ability to manufacture it commercially, at least not yet.

The current density of 2.5A/cm^2 comes from a fraudulent, that is, intentionally misleading, 2015 datasheet by Nanox predecessor, which I have previously linked here on this blog. 

The Nanox.Tube cannot do 314mA and 120 kVp.  The one used in the Nanox.Cart can do up to 2mA and up to 40 kVp, at most (or 0.08 kW, per 510K summary).  The CEI one can do up to 1mA and up to 100 kVp (or something like 0.1 kW, per CEI video).  The tube used by GE in the predicate device for Nanox.Cart can do about 40 kW - it has a rotating anode.  The CT tube can do about 120 kW (using Steven's numbers). So, to replicate the power of a $150,000 CT tube, one needs to use, oh, something like 1,000-1,500 Nanox tubes that cost $100,000 or more.  An after-market CT tube will cost less than $100,000, of course.  All this has been already discussed last year.

Micro-X has a 4.8 kW tube (a bulky stationary-anode one) - it uses carbon nanotubes, which Nanox says is impossible - it sells a few units a year.  The biggest CEI tubes are smaller sizes than Micro-X's and go up to about 2.5 kW (also stationary-anode ones).  

Update June 10, 2021:  Investors will eventually blame Nanox CEO for their delusions.  Steven continues:

The anode temperature becomes the challenge with the NNOX tube. CEI states that their tubes can handle about 60KJ. The RSNA video shows the bed is moving through the sources quickly (15-20 seconds for whole body). My guess is that NNOX is using high current short bursts to keep the anode temperature under control. In the video they may have used 300mA for up to 0.2 seconds to make 10 shots (capturing 8" per shot) while the cart moves through. 300mA x 0.2 X 10 shots = 60KJ. You can't shot this with dental tubes like that. They don't have the current and the image gets too blurry.

He is right that a typical dental tube (which has a better performance than the Nanox tube) cannot do 300mA.  He is also right that at some point, the heat capacity of the anode becomes a challenge (the anode temperature is not really a problem - it is the temperature of a part of the anode, the tungsten target, that is the challenge).

But Steven does not understand what heat capacity means.  Yes, one of CEI's most powerful medical tubes, OX125-06, can handle 60 kJ (CEI only makes stationary-anode tubes).  But that does not mean that it can do 300 mA or that 300 mA  x 0.2 s  x 100 kVp  x 10 shots = 60 kJ.  Nor does it mean that you can do 5 A x 0.2 s  x 60 kVp x 1 shot.  CEI provides nice charts in its datasheets to explain the interplay between heat capacity, tube current, tube voltage, and time.

As the charts show, the tube cannot do more than 35mA at 60kVp for 0.1s or more than 20mA at 110 kVp for 0.1s. But it can do 15 mA at 100 kVp for 10 seconds.  The RSNS 2020 demo, which we now know was fake, never demonstrated a full-body scan - it scanned three phantom "organs." The "hand" scan consisted of 45 "shots" or images ( 5 tubes x 9 tilts/translations) - it took about 50 seconds for the images thumbnails to appear on the display.  That is about 1 second per shot, not 0.2 seconds (and we don't know what that's even real).

The CEI OX-70, a dental tube,  can do about 32mA at 60 kVp for 0.1s or more than 20mA at 90 kVp for 0.1s.  It can do 10mA at 90 kVp for 10 seconds.  Here is some summary table from CEI's datasheets.  Stationary-anode tubes all look kind of the same.  The tubes that do less than 100 kVp are "dental" and typically tolerate half the current than the "medical," and are a bit smaller. 

Model	Voltage  kVp	Current mA, 0.1s	Current mA, 100kV	Focal sp. (mm)	Diam. (mm)	Length (mm)
Small/Dental tubes
OX/70-P	70	19	N/A	0.8	30	72
OX/70-5	70	11	N/A	0.5	30	72
OCX/65-G	70	12	N/A	0.8	30	76
OX/70-4	70	9	N/A	0.4	30	72
OX/70	90	21	N/A	1.2	30	82
OX/90	90	9	N/A	0.5	30	83
OCX/70-G	70	12	N/A	0.8	30	65
OCX/70-G4	70	8	N/A	0.4	30	65
Medical/Mobile tubes
OPX/105	110	18	2.5	0.5	42	125
OPX/105-4	105	17	2.5	0.4	42	95
3D/cone-beam CT tubes
OCX/100	105	20	4	0.5	46	140
OX/100	100	26	1.5	1.0	35	85

Recall, the Nanox tube in Nanox.Cart can do only 2mA at 40 kVp (for 0.1s -1 s).  The CEI Nanox tube can do only 1 mA at 100 kVp for 40 seconds (per CEI video).  The CEI OX-70 dental tube can do about 40 mA at 40 kVp for 0.1s, about 25 mA at 40 kVp for 1s, and about 3 mA at 90 kVp for about 40 seconds (per datasheet charts).  If Nanox tubes perform like poorly-made hot-cathode dental tubes, they probably are.  No mystery Nanox.Source chip required.

Update June 10, 2021:   Just to clarify, regular dental tubes (just one or 5 ) can definitely replicate the fake RSNA 2020 Nanox.Arc demo.  The "hand" scan took about 50 seconds for 45 images.  Let's see whether a dental tube can do 45 images at 45 seconds, that is, a bit faster.  A CEI dental tube operating at 90 kVp can do 3mA continuously for 45 seconds, so each exposure (image) will be 3 mAs at 90 kVp.  The Nanox.Cart demo at RSNA 2020 image needed just 1.5 mAs at 40 kVp (so, significantly less than 1/4 of what the CEI dental tube can supply).  Commercial fluoroscopy equipment does ok with 100 kVp and 1 mAs for each frame (image) at 30 fps.  So, sure, with a good enough (expensive enough) detector, you can do the Nanox.Arc tomosynthesis within 45 seconds.  But the detector (regardless of the tubes used) won't cost anywhere near $10,000.  And no one would like to look at the images (the American College of Radiology never considers a tomosynthesis procedure to be "usually appropriate,"  except for breast, which the Arc cannot do).

The curious case of Nanox.Arc's development

Last week @Ehlyz on Yahoo linked to a webpage of the engineering firm Ziv-Av and wrote:

If you are still worried this company is fraud and there is no end product to sell, take a look at who is building their CT scanner, Ziv-Av, who is also a vendor for Mazor Robotics and other medical companies.

Sure enough, the engineering firm Ziv-Av claims that the Nanox.Arc device was developed by Ziv-Av's engineers, not by Nanox (Nanox supposedly only contributed a proposed x-ray source).

According to the webpage, published sometime in 2020 prior to Nanox IPO, Nanox.Arc is a revolutionary x-ray device that could do anything the current technology could, but it is smaller, more mobile, and at least 1/100 as affordable.  The device was developed in record time - just 3 months, from scratch and for peanuts (Nanox shows in its prospectus on page 9 less than $3 million in research and development expenses for the entire 2019).  It was this working prototype that supposedly led to the equity raise and Foxconn "endorsement" in January 2020.

The problem is that that the device shown on the webpage (Nanox.Arc version 1.0, according to Nanox tech webpage) is completely fake.  It cannot take any x-ray images because it does not have any x-ray tubes and any x-ray detectors.  It only has a battery and blue LED lights - no need for the special cooling system that Ziv-Av claims to have developed.   

Ziv-Av's claim that this was a "working" prototype also contradicts the draft registration statement that Nanox did not have a working prototype prior to February 2020 (that is, the equity raise in January 2020 must have occurred without a working prototype):

We have not produced a working prototype of the Nanox.Arc (page 9) 

Moreover, if the working prototype looked like what Ziv-Av is showing, then the device in the demo to Foxconn in December 2019 shown below must have used a non-working prototype - that is, the demo was fake.

device demoed to Foxconn, December 2019

Here is the list of all the false and weird claims by Ziv-Av on that webpage:

1.  Ziv-Av develops revolutionary and affordable CT scanner for Nanox

Nope, even if the device were not fake, it cannot be used as a CT scanner due to limited number of projections (a CT scan uses hundreds of projections at different angles per arc/rotation).  It is affordable only because it is completely fake. 

2.  Nanox is a medical imaging company which has developed a revolutionary CT device that is mobile, substantially smaller and extremely cheaper than the existing devices. 

Nanox now denies that its proposed concept device is a CT device, and says it is a tomosynthesis device (unable to generate axial slices).  The device is cheap only because it is fake - the main cost of a real device would be in the detector.

3.  Nanox’s CT technology is based on digital X-ray production using a MEMS component instead of conventional flame lamps enabling cost reduction by orders of magnitude. 

There is no such thing as digital x-ray production - the proposed Nanox x-ray source generates x-rays the same way as a regular $100 hot-cathode x-ray tube - by smashing a bunch of electrons into a metal target.  And the cost of a Nanox tube will always be higher than a regular x-ray tube of the same performance, as any non-defective chip will cost more to make than a filament (a piece of wire).  It is also apparent that Ziv-Av believes x-rays are generated by conventional flame lamps - not clear whether burning kerosene or lamp oil.

conventional x-ray tube per Ziv-Av ( image source: https://www.freeimages.com/photo/the-oil-lamp-3-1535516 )

4.  The device supports scans such as CT, mammography, fluoroscopy and angiography.

Nanox now denies the CT and mammography "support" (CT-like imagining with 11 sources is now a simulation only).  Fluoroscopy and angiography are still on the table for the concept device, but they would be extremely limited, as its device lacks the positional flexibility of modern low-cost C-arm devices.

5.  Ziv-Av engineers revolutionized the medical imaging system 

Nope - the medical imaging system is still the same.

6.  Nanox approached Ziv-Av for the design of the revolutionary digital X-ray machine and its prototype within a stringent timeline of three months.

This may actually be true.  But the only revolutionary thing was the complete fakeness of the device. 

7.  Among many other design features, Ziv-Av designed the arch of the scanner which scans the patient’s body from different angles. 

Oh, so the Arc idea came from Ziv-Av rather than Nanox...

8.  The arch is designed to work with a very high voltage of 70,000V which creates immense heat. 

The statement that 70kV is associated with immense heat shows that Ziv-Av engineers do not understand basic physics and engineering.  An x-ray tube that operates at 1mA generates less heat than a 100W lightbulb.  Also, 70kV tube voltage is too low for a general x-ray device (it could be ok for extremities). 

this lightbulb generates immense heat per Ziv-Av (image source: https://www.freeimages.com/photo/light-bulb-1531205 ) 

9.  Ziv-Av managed the heat dissipation by designing a cooling system. 

The cooling system in the device is fake and not needed, as there is no x-ray source.  Subsequent proposed device iterations by Nanox show that the proposed "cooling system" is just a CNC-cut metal slab - a simple, and not very effective, heat sink.

 

10.  Along with the arch of this amazing machine, Ziv-Av also provided the design of the machine’s table, mechanics, electricity, electronics and motion control system .

Wow - so the only thing that Nanox has developed was the proposed x-ray source, and everything else (fake, of course) came from Ziv-Av? 

11.  Through its specialists, Ziv-Av achieved a significant cost-reduction – realizing Nanox’ vision of affordability to all.

True.  A fake device without an x-ray source or a detector or even a high-voltage generator would be cheap and affordable, indeed.  And, as a plus, it does not even require radiation shielding.  The only downside - it can generate no images.

12.  Ziv-Av excels in cost-effective prototype production.  Ziv-Av’s multidisciplinary engineers provided a turnkey solution from design to production of this innovative machine. 

It is innovative and cost-effective, as it is completely fake - a rarity!

12.  All the production, assembly & integration and tests were performed in Ziv-Av’s well-equipped workshop. 

No doubt.  Again, Nanox only contributed a proposed (fake) x-ray source.  

13.  The demonstrations of this perfectly working prototype helped Nanox raise $26 million within three months from many investors including ‘Foxconn-the IT industry giant’. 

By perfectly working, Ziv-Av means it can light up in blue using the built-in LEDs and a 12V battery, of course.

14.  From scratch to a revolutionary, cost-effective design as well as a working prototype – Ziv-Av accomplished all in just 3 months.

Nice.

What the webpage does not say is that the engineering firm's owner, Mr. Ziv-Av, at some point a chief scientist of the Israeli Ministry of Transportation, was convicted of securities fraud and then claimed that he did not know what he was doing.

Update:  Apparently, a Nanox promoter also tweeted about Ziv-Av last week, transforming CT or computed tomography into "3d tomo" (tomo simply means slice in greek), falsely claiming that a single (non-axial) slice meant CT-like capability, and insisting 70kV or less is not a problem for chest:

Chest/lung, musculoskeletal including skull likely on this 510(k) w/ enhanced 3D, slices, plus 2D x-ray. Cheap device. Will expand market.

Yeah, will expand the market with a completely fake device.

Update December 20, 2021:  Minor spelling correction.  

The tube chart that proves that Nanox is a fraud

Nanox team does not (or pretends not to) understand basic x-ray physics and engineering.  Its "technology" webpage and white paper are full of false, nonsensical, and self-contradictory statements.

Probably the single best example is the chart illustrating the supposed superiority of Nanox "core technology" - a novel chip-based cathode incorporated in a novel x-ray tube (see page 55, annual report).  

the chart, with enhanced saturation and added 42MW label

The chart is prominent on the technology webpage and in the white paper, where it is labeled "Hight [sic] Voltage independence" (Figure 9).  The chart title "T-35 Gate-2 HV/Ia independence" is not explained anywhere, but apparently refers to a Nanox Tube with diameters of 35 mm, utilizing a gate version #2 (as supposed to version #1?), and showing the independence between the tube (high) voltage and the tube (or anode) current (Ia).

Nanox T-35  tube that needs 42MW of power

The chart is supposed to demonstrate that Nanox cathode can enable "specific current irrespective of the anode ‎voltage."

But the chart is completely non-sensical, for at least four different reasons. 

1. The current scale is simply wrong.

Nanox does not know how to write numbers using simple scientific or engineering notation.  Jeremy Rutman is more diplomatic when he states: 

we note that whoever produced this graph forgot to use a negative exponent for his/her current units.

The vertical (current) scale in the chart goes like this: 0A, 2,000A, 4,000A, 6,000A, 8,000A, 100A, 120A.  Note that the tube current in the most powerful x-ray tubes in medical diagnostic devices is less than 1A, and notice the sharp drop-off after 8,000A.

If we take the point on the Ia (tube current) line at about 6kV (or 6,000V) tube voltage, the current is about 7.0E+03A (or 7,000 A), which corresponds to power requirement of about 42 megawatts (42,000,000 W) to power just one Nanox tube.  That is the power output from the massive generator of a small power plant:

a 40MW generator

a modern 40MW power plant 

2. The tube voltage is too low

The tube voltage on the chart does not go above 30kV.  If Nanox cathode (and tube) can only withstand 30 kV tube voltage, then the tube cannot be used in diagnostic medical devices, except to perform mammography.  Nanox own technical paper states in the section with the chart:

Typical kV in radiography range from 40-120kV and 22-49kV in mammography

The problem is that a mammography tube needs to withstand currents up to 100mA, while the chart, even with  a "fixed" scale where + is replaced with -, shows that Nanox tube can do no more than 1.1E-02A, or 11mA (unclear for what fraction of a second).

Moreover, neither the ugly Nanox.Cart nor the fancy-but-fake Nanox.Arc devices can do mammography due to their design, and Nanox removed the link to the easter-egg mammography concept device from its webpage.  

3. The chart demonstrates nothing

The chart is clearly using made-up data rather than actual readings.  That is not surprising, as Nanox cannot manufacture the proposed chip (has no access to facilities to do so commercially) or assemble the proposed (ceramic) tubes.  Moreover, even if everything was ok with the chart, it still shows nothing special about Nanox cathode or tube.  Most modern x-ray sources are required and designed to maintain independent control of tube voltage and tube current, that is "HV/Ia Independence."

4. Energy is not measured in volts, and current is not power

The description of the chart on the webpage even shows ignorance of the difference between energy and tension and how each is measured:

The Nanox gate electrode practically "ejects" the electrons from the ‎cathode and controls the amount of X-ray radiation, enabling independent control of ‎the X-ray current (mA tube current) and the energy (kV) that is set at the Anode. ‎

While there is a relationship between the x-ray energy and the tube voltage, energy is not set in kV - tension (or voltage or potential difference) is.

Elsewhere on the tech page, Nanox claims that with its cathode technology 

the current's power is independent of ‎the voltage

But the current's power is very much dependent on voltage - in fact, power is current times voltage.

Update July 1, 2021:  The 510k summary shows that the "Nanox tube" described in the submission can't do more than 2 mA and it can do it only at 40 kVp tube voltage, confirming the tube chart in the white paper is complete fake and fraudulent. 

Update October 9, 2021:  The fraudulent chart is still present in the "updated" white paper (updated in August only with the new Nanox logo).  Even replacing + with -, the chart would still show 11mA, or more than 5x the value in the 510K summary.

The chip that proves that Nanox is a fraud

Nanox tweets how its "small" chip is changing 100 years.  That would be quite a feat, if the chip were not fake.  But it is easy to see that it is fake.

 

Let's magnify:

The things in the red ovals are either defects or large specks of dust (which should not exist in a clean room).  The chip is not functional.

Why doesn't Nanox have a better picture of the chip?  Nanox has no access to facilities to manufacture the chip, contrary to the false claims in its Prospectus.  Specifically, Nanox claims to have its own equipment placed in clean rooms at the University of Tokyo.  However, there is no equipment that belongs to Nanox there.  Moreover, the University of Tokyo prohibits any commercial use of its clean room facilities, which it rents per day to anyone who is doing academic research. 

The proposed chip, even if manufactured without defects, changes nothing.  The proposed chip requires much higher voltage than a corresponding filament, first introduced by GE in 1913.  The proposed x-ray tube with such a chip in the cathode generates just as much heat as a regular tube using a filament (since 99% of the heat in both tubes is generated at the anode and 99% of the energy used by both tubes is wasted as heat).  Switching speed is the same as a regular tube with a grid.

Update:  Another view of the chip, from a snapshot of the RSNA 2020 "Nanox - Technology & Vision" video (1:02).

Foolish misdirection

Nanox stock is up more than 15% today.  The catalyst may have been a nice promo that claims that Nanox, the healthcare disrupter, is about to receive FDA clearance within a month and start distributing its new X-ray device.

Quite interesting, given that Nanox claims that it has not submitted its magic device for FDA clearance yet.  Nanox claims instead that it has submitted another, a "single-source," device that it does not intend to market or ship or distribute or offer for subscription or service.    

Here are some of the factual inaccuracies and false implications in the promo:

• Nanox has a new kind of X-ray
• X-rays are kind of boring
• [X-ray devices] are very expensive
• MRI devices use or create X-rays
• A CT scanner costs about a million, 2 million, 3 million dollars
• Nanox has made a radical new discovery
• The traditional X-ray devices and CT scanners create X-rays by heating the machine up over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, might be 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit
• X-rays devices and CT scanners are incredibly hot machines and have to be cooled down
• The expense in X-rays devices and CT scanners is in cooling the devices down
• Nanox can create X-rays without having to manufacture all this heat and cool the machine down
• Nanox proposed machine is far cheaper (to manufacture), $10,000 instead of a $1,000,000
• Nanox will radically disrupt the market, and is also going to expand the market
• We are going to see a lot more X-rays
• The proposed Nanox machine (a rudimentary tomosynthesis device) can generate images that are comparable to MRI images or CT images, not just to traditional X-ray or tomosynthesis images.

Update (March 13/14, 2021):    thedudemd  @ Stocktwits disagrees that the factual inaccuracies are factual inaccuracies and argues that 

a)  "Traditional xray tubes used in cts do get incredibly hot; so much so that scanners automatically shut down if tube gets overheated,"  and   

b)  "ct scanners do cost millions of dollars."

Tubes or devices/machines?  The Fool contributor said that the traditional x-ray device or traditional CT scanner was being heated up over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which is clearly not true.  These systems operate at room temperature.

But let's talk tubes.  Both the traditional and the proposed Nanox tubes use the exact same inefficient mechanism of generating x-rays, whereby nearly 99% of the heat is generated at the anode and nearly 99% of the energy used to generate x-rays gets wasted as heat.

Interestingly, the filament in the tiny incandescent Christmas tree lightbulb gets even hotter - 2,200 degrees Kelvin to 3,200 degrees Kelvin -  or 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit to 5,300 degrees Fahrenheit!  Each one filament operates at about 2.5 V consuming about 0.4 W, and there are hundreds of them on the tree.  Christmas trees must get incredibly hot and burn up instantly, no?

  

Photo by Jason  Krieger from FreeImages.com

Regarding costs - maybe the latest and greatest CT scanner could cost over $2 million, but you can buy a used one for $80,000, as described here and here.   Of course, the proposed fake five-source Nanox.Arc is in no way comparable to even the oldest, cheapest and abused CT, as it cannot generate axial slices, even in theory.  Moreover, it is not even submitted for clearance, according to Nanox.  The device that Nanox claims to have submitted for clearance is a single-source device that cannot be cleared.

Update June 3, 2021:  The Nanox single-source device that got cleared was the Nanox.Cart.

Quick credibility check

It is easy to spot that Nanox' management is not familiar with this simple thing called the truth.  Here is a quick example.  Today's press release announces:

With [the RSNA 2020] demonstration, we brought X-ray technology, which had not seen material technological advancements since its discovery more than 120 years ago, into the 21st century.

But Nanox own technology white paper states:

Modern X-ray and the evolution of radiologic modalities started in 1913 by introducing tungsten filament to the cathode part of the “Coolidge” tube, which supplied far better reliability than the preceding technologies. Over a hundred years later, X-rays continue to be generated by electrons supplied by heating tungsten filaments. The history of radiology is the history of the “Hot Cathode” invented by Mr. Coolidge.

1913, by the way, was just 108 years ago.  And X-rays were discovered in 1895, according to the same paper.

So, which one is it?    Did X-ray technology see a material technological advance after the discovery of X-rays but prior to RSNA 2020, or not?  The white paper says, yes, in 1913, when the hot-cathode technology introduced by GE completely obliterated the cold-cathode technology that Roentgen used and that Nanox now pretends to use.  The press release says no way!  Which one (press release or white paper) should we believe?   Which one (Coolidge or Poliakine) advanced X-ray technology?

Update:  By the way, Nanox cannot say that this is a simple mistake or misunderstanding, as Nanox claims that the Chair of its Advisory Board is Morry Blumenfeld, who was a GE employee.

Asking stupid questions

So, a stupid question arose today in a discussion about what would be a plausible defense by a scam artist.

Question: Did Nanox CEO graduate from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, or not?

Checking English-language internet sources left me confused.  This one says he only attended the Academy, that is, he did not graduate.  Another one says he received a Degree in Industrial Design there.

In a November 2020 blog post, the CEO states:

When I submit my bio (prior to lectures or interviews), my educational background often surprises people. I do not have a degree in machine engineering, computer engineering, or in any type of engineering for that matter. I studied arts and design at the Bezalel Academy of Arts in Jerusalem.

So, he did not graduate, after all?

According to a Muddy Waters report,

Charismatic CEO Poliakine appears to have no formal training in radiology, physics or medicine—or to have even finished college. His only academic credentials seem to be a two-year stint he spent at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. Our investigators contacted a Bezalel administrator who confirmed that he did not graduate (page 42)

In his blog post he essentially describes himself as a modern Leonardo Da Vinci, "the great artist and innovator," but with the inclination to ask stupid questions:

This is something I do all the time: go into new areas and ask stupid questions. I have no choice: I am not an established scientist or a researcher with formal education. So I go in and ask the kind of questions that people who’ve been in this field for a while would not consider asking. 

Essentially, he is paraphrasing Meredith Perry of the fraud uBeam (now, SonicEnergy).  The problem in the real world, of course, is that if people take time to answer all the stupid questions, there is no time left for anything else.

It is a great defense, though  - I did not know what I was signing or talking about - I am an artist.  And an artist is allowed to pretend to be something more:

I am a technologist. I want to tell you about the technology of Nanox... (02:05 in the RSNA 2020 demo)

 

And then to lie outright that Wilhelm Roentgen used a hot filament to discover X-rays (Nanox own technology white paper, published just a few days prior, states that the hot filament was introduced by GE's Coolidge, many years after Roentgen's discovery)... 

The dictionary seems to define technologist as an expert in a particular field of technology, not just an artist.

Random youtube comments

Some random comments, slightly edited, on youtube [and elsewhere]:

• If the FDA approves or clears a device that violates the laws of physics, would you still buy the stock of the maker of that device? What is more likely - that new laws of physics are discovered or that the FDA made a mistake? By the way, Nanox will not be asking for FDA approval, but for CLEARANCE (according to its SEC filings), which is a big difference.
• You don't need heat to "generate" electrons. For example, you can use photons to kick electrons out of metal.
• Almost 100% of the heat generated in an x-ray tube comes from the electrons heating the anode - only very little heat comes from the electron generation, be it from a cold or hot cathode.
  
  
• The more-powerful the x-rays are, the safer they are, ironically. Because the overall exposure in the soft tissues can be lower for the same quality of the image.
  
  
• Nanox tech paper and tech web page show absolute ignorance of x-rays and basic physics and engineering.  The scientific advisory board should be ashamed.
  
  
• Generating a good diagnostic "3D" image requires tens to thousands of images, that is exposures, but that's ok, because the overall radiation dose can still be quite low, if you have good detectors. That is why tomosynthesis and tomography machines are approved and cleared by the FDA.
  
  
• Someone made a good point about the lamb bone image possibly being exactly the same (same position/orientation) in the RSNA2020 demo. Modern x-ray console software has the ability to automatically straighten, auto-rotate and "line-up" an image, but it is a good point anyway and needs to be reviewed.
  
• If Nanox.Arc were real, it would be already deployed in a veterinarian "hospital" or even undergoing human trials.
  
  
• X-rays were discovered with a cold-cathode (gas-discharge) tube in 1895. Electrons from both the cold-cathode and hot-cathode generate heat when they hit the anode. About 99% of all the electricity used by an x-ray tube ends up in heat, regardless of the cathode. There is a lot of research being done now to find ways to generate x-rays without all this waste heat.  Nanox cold-cathode "technology" does not and cannot address that problem at all.
  
  
• Image noise is everywhere. Underexposed x-ray images are especially noisy. That's what cheap Chinese tubes do. Mechanical noise in the live RSNA 2020 demo comes from the tilting gantry, also known as Arc.
  
  
• The machine in the back of the warehouse is not an MRI machine. It is a Canon CT machine (although the radiologists think it is an inflatable prop, just like the company). Nanox will say they have it so they can use it as a predicate and compare Nanox.Arc images with the CT images in preparation for 510(k) submission of the multi-source Nanox.Arc. You cannot use someone else's "online" clinical images in a 510(k) submission - the FDA will reject such a submission.
  
  
• The Nanox industry presentation was on the original RSNA 2020 schedule, but, with the permission of the organizers, it was rescheduled to a later day.
  
  
• Ceramics might absorb too much radiation? Isn't that good? Plus, ceramic tubes are usually easier to manufacture in volume and last longer. So, almost all x-ray tube manufacturers also make ceramic x-ray tubes. But Nanox cannot manufacture them - Nanox ceramic tubes are fake.
• Nope, you don't need more voltage than 40kV to x-ray an adult hand, especially if you use a decent DR detector and no filtration (which is illegal, but so what!). However, the recommended exposure setting for tube voltage with a DR detector is indeed higher (and grid is also recommended).
• You would be surprised to know that the FDA has cleared diagnostic x-rays systems that use 2mA dental tubes. So, yes, Nanox can buy a cheap Chinese hot-cathode tube for $70, label it Nanox.SOURCE and offer it for sale for $100. Don't mix voltage with power - not the same!
• You don't need a great deal of energy to liberate electrons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_function .  As you can see from the work function, you don't need much voltage to liberate electrons. And, yes, nano-Spindt electrodes can do it with less than 50V in the real world.
  
  
• Nanox CEO cannot read about "atomic physics" - he studied art and calls himself a "technologist."
  
  
• Real scanners do use many KVP, much higher than 40kV.
  
  
• The detectors they have shown are Konica's AeroDr and DRTECH's Exprimer. I think they also use a cheap Chinese one ($25,000?).
  
  
• You can get plenty of cancer-inducing radiation even from one tube. For a CT-like reconstruction, you need to cover roughly 180 degrees, at the minimum, with your x-ray source(s).
  


• Yes, Nanox.Arc 2.0 is not functional - it cannot "scan" an adult.
  
  
• The agreement signed by the CEO of USARAD for the distribution of the 3,000 Nanox systems is illegal, I believe, because the Nanox system has not been submitted for clearance. And, yes, he himself admitted to have lied about whether he saw 3D images from Nanox in 2019. He makes false claims and pretends to cry during the RSNA 2020 "demo," because he is an investor in Nanox and wants to sell his stock at a high price. He is not a good radiologist, despite his certification - he failed to notice the mismarked hand radiograph during the live demo and lied about the recommended exposure settings for hand radiographs, among others. Also, he knew, or must have known, that the simulation results he presented were completely bogus, because the first thing one learns about cone-beam CT is the noise problem.
  
  
• The filament of a hot-cathode tube is heated over 1,000 degrees Celsius and uses very little electricity, as low as, say, 5W.
  
  
• Compared to a cheap Chinese hot-cathode tube, the proposed Nanox tube has the SAME size and shape, uses the SAME electrical energy for the same X-ray generation, requires JUST AS MUCH cooling, and is LESS precise in delivering that electron "beam." But, of course, Nanox cannot manufacture such a cold-cathode tube - I believe its demos use cheap LOW-POWER Chinese hot-cathode stationary-anode tubes that can operate at "room temperature." So, no, the Nanox tube is NOT LEGITIMATE - it does not exist as a functional device.
  
  
• SK Telecom President says that the proposed Nanox tube is VERY expensive. Yes, the cheap Chinese tubes can create "near-equivalent" images with a good DR detector (and the FDA has already cleared devices with only one 2mA hot-cathode tube), but Nanox is using them in its devices without the required filtration because they are so low-powered, which means they are unsuitable for medical imaging because they are unsafe (more likely to cause cancer!).
  
  
• Nanox cannot manufacture that "chip" commercially - it has no access to facilities to do so. Same about the tubes.
  
  
• Nanox and its predecessors have been trying to license these proposed tubes to other entities since RSNA 2015 (yes, for more than 5 years!), with zero success, per Nanox CEO and SK Telecom President.
  
  
• Nanox never planned to do a phantom scan with the single-source device - Nanox had already prepared the hand radiograph of the century video overlay (as revealed briefly in a frame in the video). In fact, the DICOM tag shows that the hand radiograph was the CEO's THIRD ATTEMPT ("Ran_3").
  
  
• The introduction of the Nanox.Arc by the CEO at RSNA 2020 was illegal and in violation of RSNA rules, as Nanox.Arc has not been submitted for 510(k) clearance yet.
  
  
• How many tubes in the Nanox.Arc as demoed - 5 or 6? What do those tubes look like?
  
  
• Nanox.Arc table cannot withstand the weight of an average adult - it is made of cheap thin wobbly plastic. Thus, the three light-weight phantoms used in the RSNA 2020 demo.
  
  
• Nanox.Arc cannot be used for mamo tomosynthesis - the devices cleared by the FDA require breast "squishing." No breast squishing means no 510(k).
  
  
• The animal bone scan with the Nanox.Arc was fake - it was prepared in advance, as evidenced by the wrong orientation (by 180 degrees) in the DICOM file.
  
  
• The reconstruction at the end of the RSNA 2020 demo was a misleading simulation - for example, it assumed no noise, while noise is the biggest problem with cone-beam CT. It also assumes giant x-ray detectors that don't exist and will cost millions, if ever built.
  
  
• Each of these opinion "leaders" in the Nanox "opinions video" said at least one thing that was false or non-nonsensical. Not a surprise here - they are paid by Nanox.  Money blinds and corrupts many people.
  
  
• We agree that tomosynthesis is computationally simple (matrix addition instead of matrix inversion) and very old (older than hot-cathode), but in recent years there has been increase in research and publications about it, because in certain cases, such as mammo or MSK or even chest, it COULD potentially generate good diagnostic images with less radiation dose than CT. Agree about the orientation, but you should take a good look at the RadiAnt DICOM viewer thumbnails in one of the frames of the recorded live stream from RSNA 2020. A side note: Nanox used a trial version of that DICOM viewer - they are too cheap to even pay for a $150 license.
• Did Nanox white paper on mammography disappear? The paper was called "Potential benefits of Nanox technology in Mammography" and was shown in Nanox virtual booth at RSNA 2020. Let me know, if you can find a link to a publicly available copy (I already have the actual file from RSNA 2020).

Added January 12, 2021:

• Please do not spread misinformation!  Where to begin... According to Nanox presentation at RSNA 2020, the single-source Nanox.Arc DOES NOT ANYTHING LIKE the multiple-source Nanox.Arc "but with one tube," as you claim.  The single-source device looks like the ugly device here, not the fancy and fake picture you are showing in the video!   On a side note, I have STRONG reasons to believe that Nanox has not submitted anything for clearance, either directly to the FDA or through a Third Party. Ok, back to the FDA:  The FDA is required to to respond within 30 days after the Third Party makes the recommendation (which recommendation should have occurred by early October 2020 at the latest, if Nanox response were satisfactory).  Here is what happens in the real world:  If Nanox had submitted for clearance, as it claims, the chance that the FDA is going to clear the device is now close to ZERO.  Similar DOES NOT MEAN substantial equivalence.  The device needs to be is AS SAFE AND EFFECTIVE.  Predicate is important, indeed.  Now, can you find a predicate for the ugly device?  Or maybe you can find one for the fancy fake Nanox.Arc device that cannot support the weight of an adult on the table (made of wobbly flaky non-structural plastic) and that cannot take proper chest PA, the most common radiological investigation in general radiology? Let's make it simple for you:  Since 510(k) is a preMARKET notification, the FDA or the Third Party should immediately reject any device that the submitter does not intend to MARKET.  And what did Nanox say about its plan to market the single-source Nanox.Arc device? Cold cathode companies?  Roentgen discovered x-rays using a COLD CATHODE tube (Crookes gas discharge one).  Cold-cathode tubes were the dominant tube technology, until GE (Coolidge) destroyed them in 1913   Every radiologist should know that!  Embarrassing.

Added January 13, 2021, this one from a chat room:

• @kastenz re do DIODES x-rays exist: [Nanox patents] won't help you here - they are almost completely useless because they are mostly misleading. Nanox predecessor has a research report about exactly how the [nano-cones] are made - they had to published it, because it was a requirement for using the university lab on the cheap with the other grad students. It has nothing to do with MEMS technology - it is a simple lithography and deposition. You cannot produce x-rays with semiconductor technology because of the work function - all you can do is UV. Nanox claims to produce x-rays like everyone else - generating electrons that accelerate with very high voltage, say 55 kV, and then hit an anode, thereby releasing 1% of the energy as x-rays. But yes, most x-ray tubes are diodes, including the proposed Nanox one (as in a vacuum tube diode, not a semiconductor one). Nanox, however, cannot produce a working tube, unfortunately (except for R&D). None of Poliakine's other ventures have been successful - all are complete failures. Nanopores - what is that? The holes/cones are about 100-300 nm or so in diameter [distance between cones 400nm to 800nm depending on the direction], if I remember from my measurements of their only microscope photo (which was hidden in a 2016 tech sales sheet by Nanox predecessor). MEMS use nanotechnology, because to make a functional micron-size mechanical part you need nano-precision. Nanox-proposed cold cathode does not use any mechanical parts - so it is not a MEMS device. The sources Nanox uses in its demos and tests are actually cheap Chinese hot-cathode tubes, based on what I have seen.

Added January 21, 2021:

• ​You have no opinion on the stock? That's news to me - your video description says Nanox (Nano-x Imaging) is revolutionizing the X-ray and this IPO stock will soon explode. Unless you mean explode as in get obliterated... Any radiologist who knows a bit of about x-rays and who listens to any interview or presentation by the CEO should immediately recognize that Nanox is a fraud - 1) Roentgen did not use a tube with hot filament (that was invented by GE much later, in 1913), and 2) 99% of the heat from the tube is not generated by the cathode but by the anode, and just about 1% of the electrical energy is converted into x-rays, regardless of the type of cathode used. I mean, this is basic stuff - and you don't need to know what device the CEO is talking about. Then comes the mass screening with ionizing radiation and all that other nonsense... And finally, the live demo - you saw the device he says he will be shipping this year. Tell me, what can that $50,000+ device be used for? It cannot withstand the weight of an adult and can't even do chest PA. I can't find any predicate for it.
  
• Nobody had seen images from the "tube" in October 2020? Hello? Nanox had those "images" in the prospectus. The problem with those "images" is that they are fake, not that they are regular "2D" images. How do I know? Well, the mAs and left/right labels change each time Nanox reposts these images. You claim to be radiologist, yet you have not noticed those discrepancies? How come? There were "CT" images (well, rotating 3D chest, not really CT slices) generated in the fake video that Nanox changed after MuddyWaters commented on it.
  
  So, did you like the images at RSNA 2020 and did you verify the machine produced them? Those tomosysnthesis images were not done real-time - it is easy to see in the thumbnail sequence of their trial-version DICOM viewer, so I have no idea how they were produced. But, yes, you can do some crappy tomosynthesis with 5 sources (not 6, as the CEO says), but it is useless for diagnostic purposes. And that 11-source simulation at the end was obviously misleading (because the main problem with cone-CT is noise, and SART is not the proper reconstruction algorithm), not to mention those detectors will run into $100,000s [even in high volume]. 
  
  Smaller places need a simple x-ray system first - that's what the World Health Organization says - and it is already cheap.
  
  
• Yes, "nanotubules."   Are you related to Dr. Dawson, the Nanox Advisor - he is the only one in the world that uses that word, and he does not understand it.
  
  Cold-cathode x-ray tube is possible.  Roentgen used one in 1895 to discover x-rays, and it did not have a rotating anode.  Cold-cathode had 100% market share in the x-ray tube market, until GE came in 1913 and destroyed it.  Today, there are cheap x-ray diagnostic systems (for extremities only) on the market that use 2mA hot-cathode dental tubes (tinier and cooler than Nanox' proposed source) without rotating anodes, of course.  But they can't be the primary imaging system, because they can't do regular adult chest x-rays.  Hot-cathode tubes with the performance proposed by Nanox are not expensive or large, and they cost less than $100 (while SK President and Nanox advisor says Nanox proposed tubes are very expensive in that removed video which you can see on my blog).
  
  Nanotubes and nano-pins (aka nano-Spindt) make a poor cathode for an x-ray tube.  The only commercial source for cold-cathode x-ray tubes in medical devices now is Micro-X, and all they could muster is a huge CNT tube that can just do 130ma for 2 seconds.  That is why their stock is down the drain and why Carestream is actively discouraging people from buying DRX-Revolution Nano which contains that tube.
  
  Nanox is not using any chip to control anything digitally.  It looks to me you don't even understand what Nanox is proposing as a cold cathode.  The "chip" is just a bunch of tiny metal pins close to a grid - that's all - there is nothing digital or MEMS about them.  With a Spindt (or nano-Spindt) array you control the tube current with low voltage, just as you do with a hot filament with even lower voltage.  And, of course, Nanox does not have any actual working source based on nano-emitters on a chip  - it cannot make it since it does not have the facilities to do so.
  
  All these opinion leaders you cite have already ruined their reputation, because they said stupid or false things in exchange for money in that video.
  
  But you are correct, irradiating the entire world population with ionizing radiation indiscriminately is not a good idea.  You should suggest that to Nanox CEO, because he disagrees.
  
  
• Yes, theoretically a stationary 5-source tomosynthesis machine that also tilts +/- 30 degrees (the proposed Nanox.Arc 2.0) can indeed produce some images, but they are definitely not slices (because tomosynthesis is additive, unlike CT, which is inverting) and they will be full of horrible blurring and striping artefacts, and, in fact, inferior for diagnostic purposes compared to simple radiographs taken from carefully selected views. 
  
  It is true that tomosynthesis evolved over time since the first attempts in 1920s, but then CT completely overtook it.  Only very recently there has been some increased revival with the approval of specialized breast tomosynthesis devices in 2013, but these are still niche products.  Nanox.Arc, even if it were real, is not the first x-ray imaging device that a hospital or an urgent care facility would acquire... 
  
  
• Nanox is not seeking FDA approval, but FDA clearance, according to its filings with the SEC.  Also, it is seeking clearance for a single-source device, which seems to transform each time it is shown to the public (compare RSNA 2020 with JP Morgan presentation).  Finally, there are reasons to believe that Nanox never submitted anything for clearance, or, if it did, it was fraudulently.

Added January 22. 2021:

• It is not a matter of choice - the ISRL ETF needs to track the index, by prospectus promises.  The weight is about 2% (divide 100 by 60, the number of companies in the index) - it is an equal-weighted index - and the ETF has some leeway with the weights based on liquidity.  NNOX was pre-determined to be included at the next quarterly rebalancing, once it did an IPO.  The move yesterday was due to OTM call buying, not the inclusion in the ETF at the close.  Funny thing, the more the stock moved up yesterday, the FEWER NUMBER of shares ended up in the ETF (you figure it out why!).  And that is why the stock is down today. 
  
  Also, why would an FDA clearance of a single-source device be important to a company that does not intend to market such a device (or, at least, did not intend at the time of the 510K submission)?
   
• not from youtube, but in the same line:  I have never said that Nanox "never submitted 510k clearance." I have said that I have (several) reasons to believe that Nanox never submitted for 510k clearance, or if it did, it committed fraud.
  
  The law says that FDA has to respond within 30 days to a recommendation by the Third Party whether to clear or not. Check my blog, or just google around.
  
  Nanox stated in its Prospectus that it submitted the single-source Nanox.Arc for clearance in January 2020. The problem is that in a draft registration statement filed with the SEC in February 2020, Nanox stated that it did not have a working Nanox.Arc device. Therefore, Nanox submitted a non-working device for clearance (which is fraud), or Nanox lied in its draft registration statement.
  
  In the same draft registration statement, Nanox also says that it planned to submit for clearance the single-source Nanox.Arc (meaning, it could not have submitted it in January 2020).
  
  And, of course, the single-source device shown at RSNA 2020 does not match the single-source device shown at JP Morgan conference.
  
  A single source tube is redundant (Nanox' proposed tube is a single source) and does not require clearance to be marketed. A single-source x-ray system device is not the same as a single source tube.
  

More (youtube and elsewhere):

• January 23, 2021: The chip proposed by Nanox (proposed, because it is not commercial!) is not a MEMS chip, because there is nothing mechanical about it. A MEMS chip is not made like a semi-conductor chip (otherwise, it will be called a semi-conductor chip).  Nanox has no manufacturing facilities in Japan or Korea [contrary to false claims in Prospectus and investor presentations]. The video [first posted in Nanox virtual booth at RSNA 2020] shows a University of Tokyo facility that prohibits commercial activities and an R&D (not manufacturing!) lab in Korea that is not a clean room and that cannot make chips.
  
  The Nanox ceramic tube is fake, because it cannot be sealed [to maintain vacuum], and because the chip cannot be made by Nanox (due to lack of facilities to do so).
  
  The single-source device is fake because it changed its look [from ugly to fancy] between RSNA 2020 and the JP Morgan presentation [, and size, shape, and functionality changed too].
  
  The FDA does not care about any x-ray tubes [they are Class I devices exempt from premarket notification and clearance]. The FDA cares whether the x-ray SYSTEM (the complete device) is safe and effective. Nanox has not submitted anything for any FDA approval, according to its prospectus.
  
  
• January 25, 2021:  Dear Doctor,  Cathy's IZRL was forced to buy Nanox at the quarterly rebalancing because Nanox did an IPO in August.  That is how passive index funds work.  She did zero due diligence on the stock and had to buy it, even knowing that Nanox is a fraud, that's what the prospectus says.  Cathy does not care whether the stock goes to $1,000 or zero - IZRL has to own it, as promised in the prospectus - Cathy needs to track the benchmark.   Nanox is not designing a CT scanner - you cannot do CT with less than 180 degrees of projections, by definition.  The heating of filament does not create "x-ray imaging," and neither can any silicon chip.  The demo at RSNA 2020 was not live - it was live-streamed across oceans and continents  - big difference (and, of course, the CEO faked it).  January 2020 (510K submission) comes before September 2020, not after!   What you are circling on the presentation is NOT A SILICON CHIP - it is a glass tube that Nanox claims it is no longer using.  Nanox is not seeking an FDA approval, according to its prospectus  (the first presentation slide is intentionally misleading!) - approval takes years of human studies and billions of dollars, while clearance is done within 90 days.  If you want to learn more about how FDA clearance works and how long it takes, look at my blog.  The company is confused about what is the meaning of "field" in "field emitter."  Yes, if the company were not a fraud, all would be great and cancer and appendicitis would be cured for pennies, but it is a fraud.
  
  
• February 1, 2021:  According to Nanox, the FDA is now requesting information about the predicate and intended use for the single-source device only (the fancy, but also fake, Nanox.Arc one has not been submitted yet). If I were the FDA, I would do the same. Why? Because Nanox stated in its Prospectus that it did not intend to MARKET the single-source device , and the 510K submission is a preMARKET notification. I other words, the single-source device has no intended use (and therefore, no predicate).
  
  
• February 1, 2021:  In response Andrew Kamal @Medium, an avid reader of my blog:  So, what exactly is your problem with my blog? You find the single-source device non-ugly or the Nanox.Arc, in general, non-fake? Or you just think that this SUPER NANOX soap is infringing on Nanox' copyrights? Has anyone of those "smart people," who may be paid by Nanox, confirmed that Nanox is not a fraud? Since Nanox is a fraud, you won't find such a confirmation, I am afraid. Ark's IZRL fund had to buy NNOX and did it with zero due diligence because it is a passive fund that tracks an equally-weighted index of all the liquid publicly traded tech Israeli stocks, and gets rebalanced quarterly (NNOX was eligible for the first time). FDA timeline getting close - you sure? You were correct on the big move today, though.

Update:  March 24, 2022:  Tonsley Innovation District said before the launch of the Carestream DRX-Revolution Nano device:

It is expected that the revolutionary machine will be available for commercial sale next year via Carestream Health between $150,000 to $200,000 per unit.

I have not seen a disclosure by Micro-x itself about the ASPs of the Nano or the Rover.

Nanox mission

 Not to be confused with Nanox vision (announced in a press release with SKT in June 2019), Nanox mission is:

“to replace all legacy sources with our digital X-ray.” (November 2019 press release)

From/To in Nanox November 2019 press release 

Yes, that digital X-Ray source has a field of nano-gates (that is, holes) that emit pixie dust (because electrons are emitted by nano-cones, not nano-holes) in discrete streams instead of a Schrödinger cloud, according to the illustration above.  And cathodes, anodes, and years do not matter (based on the From half).

Unfortunately, Nanox own facilitator and option holder testifies that nobody wanted that non-existent digital X-ray source.  Not even when the current CEO, then the Chief Strategy Officer of Nanox predecessor, went to RSNA 2015 to show it around.  Now the title of his blog is IMAGING 3.0 which is remarkably similar to Imaging3.  Coincidence or Freudian slip?  No way he did not know about Imaging3.

  

The testimony at RSNA 2020 that disappeared

This testimony was removed after briefly appearing in a longer video on Nanox' RSNA 2020 virtual booth on November 29, 2020 (days ahead of the live presentation). Per Nanox prospectus:

In addition, we signed an agreement with a President of SK Telecom, Dr. Ilung Kim, dated December 16, 2019, for the provision of consulting services to us. Under the agreement, we granted Dr. Kim options to purchase 1,206,290 of our ordinary shares at an exercise price of $2.21 per ordinary share. 301,572 of the options vested as of the grant date and the remaining 904,718 options will vest in equal monthly installments over a period of three years from the vesting commencement date. In case of an initial public offering or certain other events, all unvested options will fully accelerate immediately prior to the closing of the initial public offering. The vested options are exercisable until the earlier of (a) the second anniversary of termination of the engagement between us and Dr. Kim or (b) the tenth anniversary from the date of grant.

So why did it disappear?  High-cost of tubes, not ready for mass production, anything else?

Update March 30,2021:  

Well, turns out Dr. Kim was a marketing SVP and GM of Samsung Memory from 1999 to 2008, according to a recent press release announcing his joining MCE's advisory board.  Turns out, a Dr. Kim, vice president of marketing for the memory division at Samsung, agreed to plead guilty to a single count of price fixing in 2007. Dr. Kim was later sentenced to pay a fine of $250,000 and to "a period of incarceration of fourteen months."  And who claims to be working as a Marketing Managers for MCE?  Eli Reifman, the convicted felon.  Both Lydia Edwards, who is President, USA at Nanox, and Bruce Edwards, who is Nanox’s VP of Business Development used to work with Mr. Reifman.  

And one more thing:  He was on the list of Nanox representatives at the November 2020 Berenberg "CEO" conference.  

Thanks to Steve @ Yahoo and MuddyWaters' report for the hints.

Update March 31, 2021:  The draft registration statement filed on January 14, 2021 had the date of Dr. Kim agreement as October 28, 2019.  Apparently, Nanox had forgotten that the agreement with Dr. Kim had been modified on December 16, 2019 to allow for full vesting of the options prior to the IPO...

Update August 1, 2021:  Dr. Kim, a convicted felon who swindled SK Telecom into investing in Nanox and therefore received the most generous consulting fee from Nanox, has "left" SK Telecom two months ago, and joined Nano-X Korea Ltd. full-time in July ("Responsible for Korean Fab Operation, X ray Tube R & D and AP area sales and marketing", per his linkedin profile).  I first learned it from a June 30 MCE "article", which refers to him as a "former President SK Telecom."  The promotional piece appears authored by Eli Reifman, a convicted felon who claims to be Marketing Manager at MCE.  Reifman may still have an email address at Nanox (according to an email verification service), and may be affiliated with A-Labs (A-Labs supposedly denies it), which provided "consulting services" in connection "with various transactions, such as a private placement [and] ... initial public offering."  For example, A-Labs touted nine months ago the Monolith, the "world's first full-screen smartphone designed by Eli Reifman, founder of Emblaze Ltd. in 2001 with R&D initiated in 2004 which is 3 years before Apple's steve jobs introduced the first iPhone in 2007." 

Here is an August 2020 Israeli article explaining (google translate):

The Emblaze consulting firm cuts millions of dollars in coupons in Nanox and INX offerings

Eli Reifman is not officially affiliated with A-Labs, one of the biggest beneficiaries in the Nanox IPO • The company is owned by Doron Cohen, former vice president of technology company Emblaze, along with Roni Lieberman, who briefly served as VP of product at Emblaze

Gali Weinreb 23.08.2020

Eli Reifman.  Affair that began with his conviction in 2011 / Photo: Tamar Mitzpi, Globes  

A-Labs, which served as a consultant for the Nanox IPO , is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the move. As recently revealed in "Globes", this is a company founded by the graduates of the technology company Emblaze by Eli Reifman , and according to market estimates, Reifman is significantly involved in it. A-Labs itself admittedly denied that Reifman was officially associated with her, but the company's CEO and founder, Doron Cohen, noted that Reifman is a friend and sometimes advises him in a friendly manner.

Under the consulting agreement between the companies, A-Labs received a 2.5% success fee from the issue amount - approximately $ 4 million, an additional payment of $ 1 million due to the issue itself, and another 160,457 options at an exercise price of $ 16 (compared to $ 18 per issue), equivalent to At the time of the IPO, another $ 300,000. A-Labs advises in a similar format to other Israeli companies, and it was recently announced that it is expected to pocket millions of additional dollars from the issuance of the crypto company INX in the USA ( see separate article ).

Reifman is not officially affiliated with A-Labs. The company is owned by Doron Cohen, formerly vice president of the technology company Emblaze, together with Roni Lieberman, who briefly served as VP of product at Emblaze. Its vice president of operations, Raviv Pablo, also previously worked at Emblaze. 

Clues to the fact that Reifman is involved in the company can be found, for example, in the fact that Scratch Alter, who was defined in the court document as "Reifman's relative" in the matter of providing a guarantee for him, is the head of the life sciences department in the company. In addition, the company's offices are located in Kadima, where Reifman also lives.

Recent issues involving A-Labs have included issues of Israeli companies in Canada: Zoomd, which provides website search engine technology, and Else, which has developed a vegan baby food compound.

Eli Reifman is the founder of the technology company Emblaze, which has developed technology in the field of digital video. In the past, Reifman was considered a "child prodigy" in Israeli high-tech, however, he became involved in crime and accumulated debts in the gray market.

In 2011, Reifman was convicted of forgery and fraud and sentenced to four years in prison and compensation to the complainants against him. Following an appeal he filed, the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal and he went to jail, from which he was finally released a year and a half before the end of his full sentence.

Reifman founded Emblaze in 1994. The company was issued in London in 1996, and its value rose from $ 160 million at the time of the IPO to about $ 8 billion at its peak. Reifman sold tens of millions of dollars worth of shares in the company, and became one of the most prominent high-tech rich in the economy before the dot.com bubble burst.