From the March 2022 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
"New capabilities provided by MR-integrated proton therapy include an increased targeting accuracy for the treatment of moving tumors, an expansion of the range of possible organs which can be targeted with increased precision and less normal-tissue side effects, and last but not least, this technique will inform the repurposing of radiation therapy to address other pathologies, such as arrhytmic myocardial tissue ablation with highest precision comparable to surgical procedures," Hoffmann told HCB News.
Demand for proton therapy systems half of what it was five years ago: report
Demand for new proton therapy systems is half of what it was in 2015, with the market slowing by 3% each year since 2018, according to MEDraysintell’s Proton Therapy World Market Report & Directory, Edition 2021, which came out last March.
The slowdown has been attributed in the past to several factors, including negative publicity and cost barriers to treatment. One of the biggest challenges has been resistance from health authorities and private insurers to reimburse providers for the treatment.
“Proton therapy, like any business in the medical field, is directly affected by reimbursement policies, which differ in each country or region worldwide. Generally, countries that have a proton therapy center have a reimbursement policy for proton therapy implemented by their national health insurance system and/or covered by private insurances,” Paul-Emmanuel Goethals, co-founder of MEDraysintell, told HCB News.
Fewer than 280 particle therapy treatment rooms — most of which are PT-based — were available for patients as of February 2021. There are 0.4 particle therapy treatment rooms per ten million people, compared to a rough equivalent of 20 radiotherapy systems worldwide, with proton therapy making up 2% of all external radiotherapy installations worldwide.
Even demand for single-room versus multi-room PT systems has stayed the same, with the 2020 order book for new particle therapy facilities showing 45% for single-room proton therapy, 45% for multi-rooms, and 10% for heavy-ion therapy centers. These proportions have remained the same as the 2013 – 2020 period, according to Goethals.
Compared to 2021, 2015 saw high market activity for PT that continued until mid-2016, when it began to slowly dip. Global investment in particle therapy, including carbon and proton, was almost 20% lower in 2018 than in 2017 and 62% lower than in 2015.
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