Leo Cancer Care, Mevion Medical Systems and RaySearch collaborate to develop the first and only full Proton Therapy solution that can fit in a LINAC vault
Leo Cancer Care, Mevion Medical Systems and RaySearch are entering a spearheading partnership that looks set to open up a bright new future for proton therapy treatment.
With smaller footprints for patient positioning and beam delivery units, the agreement between the companies offers new care opportunities for healthcare providers.
The smaller and more cost-effective solutions – with Leo Cancer Care’s innovative upright positioning system and CT scanner paired with Mevion’s smallest-in-the-world self-shielded proton accelerator and supported by RaySearch treatment planning capabilities– could bring a new lease of life to an industry challenged by the size and costs.
Significant Benefits
Conventional proton therapy solutions are usually three-storey purpose-built buildings with rotating gantries that typically weigh 100 tonnes.
Large size and high costs make the business case to install a conventional solution difficult for many healthcare providers.
Yet proton therapy has significant benefits for cancer patients. Its ability to target tumor cells more precisely and see a higher dose of radiation delivered to the tumor, but less radiation to nearby healthy cells, has obvious advantages for patient care.
However, it is considered a premium level of care, mainly linked to the size and cost of the technology, and as a result many patients may be missing out on receiving proton therapy and the benefits it offers.
Latest Partnerships
Leo Cancer Care has worked hard to bring upright technology into all proton configurations by making the technology compatible with all proton therapy vendors, meaning healthcare facilities globally are able to tailor a solution to their needs.
The partnership with Mevion Medical Systems follows a similar partnership with Hitachi announced in May 2022.
However, this latest partnership, combining Mevion’s self-shielded proton accelerator and Leo’s upright patient positioning system, sees the first and only full proton therapy system that can fit in an existing LINAC vault (where conventional photon beam radiation treatments are administered for cancer in majority of hospitals).
Requiring only about 46 square meters, about 1/8 of the size of most conventional rotating gantry proton therapy solutions, it introduces a new product offering from Mevion called the MEVION S250-FIT Proton Therapy System™.
The partnership will also see the integration of RayStation®, the comprehensive treatment planning system offered by RaySearch. Enabling clinics adopting this new technology to complete an end-to-end workflow upright.
Johan Löf, founder and CEO, RaySearch, says:
“We find that the upright patient positioning that Leo Cancer Care makes possible is an attractive approach to radiation therapy in general, and we are happy to support its combination with the compact Mevion system. We believe that the ability to fit inside a regular LINAC vault opens up a great market potential, both for converting existing clinics and to lower the construction costs for new clinics.
Track Record
In pointing to Mevion Medical Systems’ “proven 18-year track record of technological innovation,” CEO and President, Tina Yu, PhD, said:
“We are excited to be disrupting the industry once again by shrinking proton therapy even more and by making this coveted technology much more accessible to patients who need it the most. Imagine the potential of bringing proton therapy to your cancer center within a year and having it fully integrated with other radiation modalities. Leo Cancer Care’s upright patient positioning system complements Mevion’s core technologies very well. They share our vision of democratizing proton therapy. We look forward to a long and rewarding partnership with Leo Cancer Care.”
Long-standing vision
Leo Cancer Care has a long-standing vision of taking proton therapy treatment to more people in more places.
The shift offered by its technology, from machine rotation to patient rotation, naturally results in a smaller treatment room but in pairing this with Mevion’s accelerator shows promise to “democratize proton therapy for good.”
Proton therapy champion and veteran entrepreneur Rock Mackie, PhD, Board Chairman and Co-Founder of Leo Cancer Care, said:
“Leo Cancer Care, like Mevion, has been focusing on the patient experience. Together, Leo and Mevion agreed we wanted to take proton therapy where we never thought it could go, and together we will be achieving what was once thought impossible. In working with Mevion, we will be able to scale down proton therapy in size and cost so that it can be within reach of patients who will benefit from it most.”
Quantum leap
The introduction of this new partnership and compact solution is a quantum leap in making proton therapy more accessible for all.
Leo Cancer Care has pledged to continue to push for better accessibility with the upright proton therapy solution Marie™ and hopes to be featured in more proton beam providers solutions to create smaller, smarter, proton treatment rooms globally.
*The MEVION S250-FIT Proton Therapy System with the Leo Cancer Care technology is not yet available for clinical use, pending regulatory approval