ViewRay, Inc. (VRAY)

ViewRay, Inc. developed and sold the MRIdian system, a radiation therapy machine that combined a magnetic resonance imaging scanner with a linear accelerator. The design let clinicians see soft tissue and tumors in real time during treatment and adjust radiation delivery as organs moved, which was meant to spare healthy tissue and support higher doses in fewer sessions. Its customers were cancer centers and hospitals in the United States, Europe and Asia. The company was last based in Denver, Colorado.

The operating business began in 2004 as a Florida corporation and spent years developing its technology before commercial launch. MRIdian received U.S. 510(k) clearance in May 2012, and Washington University in St. Louis treated the first patients with it in January 2014. During that period the company was headquartered in Oakwood Village, Ohio, and later had offices in Mountain View, California. In 2017 it introduced MRIdian Linac, a version built around a linear accelerator rather than cobalt sources.

ViewRay became public through a reverse merger in July 2015 with Mirax Corp, a Nevada shell company, after earlier dropping plans for a traditional IPO. Its shares were first quoted on the OTCQB under the symbol VRAY, and the stock moved to the Nasdaq Global Market in 2016. The company raised money several times through stock offerings and loans to fund sales growth, since each system was costly and orders came in irregularly.

Despite rising installations, ViewRay never became profitable. Long sales cycles, supply problems and heavy spending on research and service consumed cash, and its lender group included Silicon Valley Bank, which failed in March 2023. In July 2023 the company and certain subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, planning to sell all or part of the business. MidCap Financial committed about $6 million of debtor-in-possession financing to support the process.

Nasdaq notified ViewRay on July 17, 2023 that its shares would be delisted because of the bankruptcy filing and concerns about the minimum bid price rule. The company did not contest the decision, and trading was suspended at the open on July 26, 2023, with the stock moving to the over-the-counter market under the symbol VRAYQ. Efforts to find a buyer for the whole company fell short, and ViewRay ceased operations in October 2023, leaving common shareholders with essentially no recovery.