Skandion Clinic selects IBA for installation of particle therapy facility

IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A.) announced that Skandion Clinic, the clinical centre for proton therapy in Sweden, has selected IBA for the installation of a particle therapy facility. This new center will be managed by a consortium of seven Swedish counties, representing eight university hospitals.

Further to a comprehensive public tender and a detailed review of all the offers, Skandion has selected IBA for the supply and installation of a particle therapy facility, including the cyclotron, the equipment for two treatment rooms, the installation of a scanning beam nozzle for experimental purposes and other ancillary equipment. The contract also covers a five year service agreement and all non-clinical operations. This project amounts to between 40 and 50 million Euros.

The contract award is however subject to an appeal process filed by Varian and Sumitomo Heavy Industries. Such a process can typically take 4 to 6 months.

"We are honored to be selected as the best quality for price system by the Skandion Clinic and to install this new clinical proton therapy center in Sweden. The Swedish experts have acquired international recognition in proton therapy. As a matter of fact, the first European center in PT was built in Uppsala. We look forward to continuing to develop this important cancer fighting technology with experts that have so much experience in the field and further improve the knowledge they have," said Pierre Mottet, Chief Executive Officer of IBA.

IBA is committed to making proton therapy - the most accurate cancer treatment - available worldwide. Up to now, IBA has sold 17 proton therapy centers, which represents more than half of the clinical-based proton therapy facilities in the world.

Proton Therapy is increasingly considered the best radiotherapy for cancer due to its superior dose distribution. Protons deposit the majority of their effective energy within a precisely controlled range, directly within the tumor and, even better, spare healthy surrounding tissue. Higher doses can be delivered to the tumor without increasing the risk of side effects and long term complications, thereby improving outcome and quality of life for patients. Unfortunately, very few patients can yet benefit from this type of treatment around the world.

Source IBA

www.iba-worldwide.com