SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Centre Antoine-Lacassagne Cancer Center (CAL), in Nice, France, has signed a letter of intent with IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A.: Reuters IBAB.BR and Bloomberg IBAB.BB) for the cancer clinic to acquire the prototype of the Belgium-based company’s new Proteus ONE™* Proton Therapy system. This first installation and the joint validation of the new system will take place within the framework of a research collaboration between the CAL and IBA.
Announcement of the agreement was made at the 52nd annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology held in San Diego.
Proteus ONE is a single-treatment-room system that will be about one-third the size of IBA’s current gantry configuration. It includes a compact gantry directly coupled to a smaller cyclotron. The new system will be a more affordable Proton Therapy option for most smaller cancer centers.
The advanced proton beam system will complement the medium-energy cyclotron that has provided primarily eye cancer treatments at the CAL for nearly 20 years, earning the clinic an excellent reputation in the treatment of eye melanoma. Proteus ONE will help expand the cancer patient population served by the CAL. Initially, the proton beams of the new system will treat patients with cancers of the ear, nose and throat, and at the base of the skull. These patients will mostly come from the new “Institut Universitaire de la Face et du Cou, IUFC,” a partnership between the Centre Antoine-Lacassagne and the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice, presently under construction at the CAL. Eventually, the CAL will use protons to treat other types of cancers.
According to Professor José Santini, director of the CAL, “The higher energy, the flexibility in patient positioning provided by IBA’s new compact gantry, and the advanced imaging options will allow the CAL to use optimal proton beams to treat patients more accurately and more efficiently. And the use of superconducting magnets will reduce the CAL energy bills. It will be a tremendous advantage for cancer care in France.”
“As the first installation for Proteus ONE, CAL will have the most compact, clever and most affordable Proton Therapy system in the world,” said Pierre Mottet, chief executive officer of IBA. “The clinic will be able to help more cancer patients and treat more kinds of cancers.”
The Nice facility will be IBA’s second installation in France. A new IBA cyclotron and France’s first 360 degree gantry at the Centre de Protonthérapie de l’Institut Curie in Orsay (CPO), near Paris, just started treating patients, enabling the CPO to double the number of patients treated with protons, as well as broaden the range of tumors treated.
When confirmed, this contract will have a limited impact on IBA financial results, as the Nice Proton Therapy system consists as a prototype system.
*Subject to review by Competent Authorities (FDA, European Notified Bodies, et al.) before being put on the market.
ABOUT IBA
IBA develops and markets leading-edge technologies, pharmaceuticals and tailor-made solutions for healthcare with a focus on cancer diagnosis and therapy. Leveraging its scientific expertise, IBA is also active in the field of industrial sterilization and ionization.
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