Purchase Agreement to Supply Technology for the Proton Treatment Center

Varian Medical Systems (Palo Alto, CA, USA) and Advanced Particle Therapy, LLC (APT; San Diego, CA, USA) and its special purpose company, Georgia Proton Treatment Center, LLC reported that they have signed an agreement by which Varian will provide its ProBeam system for the Georgia Proton Treatment Center to be constructed in Atlanta (GA, USA). The Center will be operated by Emory Healthcare (Atlanta, GA, USA).

The supply agreement, priced at USD 83 million, encompasses technology for a five-room treatment center. APT is serving as developer for the USD 200 million project, through The Georgia Proton Treatment Center, LLC, a special purpose entity that was set up to design, construct, equip, and own the treatment center. Emory Healthcare faculty and staff will provide medical direction, physician services, and other administrative services to the center.

This is the third proton therapy center project that Varian is initiating in conjunction with APT. Varian and APT are also currently contracting a ProBeam system at the Scripps Proton Therapy Center (San Diego, CA, USA), and collaborating on the development of a proton therapy center at the University of Maryland (College Park, MD, USA).

“Varian is delighted to be undertaking another project with APT, a company whose management team has deep experience in management, finance, medical device business development, nuclear engineering, and particle therapy operations,” said Moataz Karmalawy, general manager of Varian’s particle therapy business. “It’s especially gratifying to be working with APT on a system that will be operated by Emory Healthcare, as Varian has a long history of working with the Emory radiation oncology department, where our most advanced systems for external beam photon radiotherapy have been used to treat cancer patients for more than a decade."

“Proton therapy involves the use of a controlled beam of protons to target tumors with higher levels of precision than is possible with other forms of radiation therapy, potentially limiting damage to healthy surrounding tissue and reducing the side effects of treatment,” noted Walter J. Curran, Jr., MD, executive director of the Winship Cancer Institute and chair of the department of radiation oncology at the Emory University School of Medicine. “We are enthusiastic about the prospect of operating the first proton therapy facility in the State of Georgia--one of only nine in the United States, as well as the opportunity to work on collaborative research projects with other institutions establishing best practices for the use of proton therapy to treat cancer."

Varian will provide the Georgia Proton Treatment Center with the company’s ProBeam system, which provides pencil beam scanning on a rotational gantry, and includes integrated imaging, robotic patient positioning and software for treatment planning and information management.

Varian’s ProBeam system provides clinicians with many selections for delivering dose precisely in order to minimize dose to healthy tissue in the course of delivering treatments. The scanning beam technology enables intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) by modulating dose levels on a spot-by-spot basis throughout the treatment region. Irradiations from multiple angles are combined in an effective way to enhance control of dose distributions. Scanning beam technology also eliminates the time-consuming need to manually insert separate shaping components for each beam angle to correlate the beam to the shape of the tumor.

Advanced Particle Therapy (APT) develops and manages proton therapy centers to provide cancer treatment to patients. APT provides a fully integrated system for development of proton treatment centers for leading academic medical institutions as well as regional healthcare systems.

Varian Medical Systems, Inc., is a world-leading manufacturer of medical devices and software for treating cancer and other medical conditions with radiotherapy, radiosurgery, and brachytherapy. The company also supplies informatics software for managing cancer clinics, radiotherapy centers, and medical oncology practices.

Related Links:
Varian Medical Systems
Advanced Particle Therapy
Emory Healthcare