by
Gus Iversen, Editor in Chief | September 30, 2014
From the September 2014 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Another new proton therapy system from Ion Beam Applications (IBA) called ProteusONE is also being marketed as a small scale alternative in proton therapy. With a price tag of around $25 million, the ProteusONE costs roughly the same as the MEVION S250. In July, IBA announced it had received Marketing Authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its Compact Gantry Beam Line, a regulatory green-light they believe will bolster international interest in the ProteusONE.
Today, small-scale systems like the MEVION S250 and IBAs ProteusONE make up only about 7 percent of proton therapy rooms. In the future, Chris Pericak, a consultant for Research and Insights at the Advisory Board Company, predicts that figure will grow to 30 percent. Pericak says, “We’ve seen that the cost of investing in protons is actually decreasing in some respects. Historically, you’d have to [spend] $200 million for a four-room center that takes up the size of a football field. Now, hospitals can buy a single-room system for about $30 million in their current space.”
“Compact proton machines have many cost saving advantages for medical centers seeking the latest radiation oncology tool and the capability to provide a mix of treatment options,” says Arzt, “but the larger multi-room centers, although more costly, provide substantially more access and treatment opportunities for cancer patients. There’s room for both in the proton therapy landscape.”
Jachinowski sees a future when proton therapy becomes implemented on a larger scale. “Maybe in 20 years protons will become a majority treatment, but I think within the next 10 years we will get to a point where, say, 15 percent of treatments are done with protons.” He also says that the MEVION S250 is the first and only proton therapy system to have been purchased by a private physician, a facility called First Coast Oncology in Jacksonville, Florida.
Market activity seems to indicate the health care industry is optimistic about the potential for proton therapy. Varian has been a leader in the industry with its ProBeam modality, which was recently installed at the Scripps Proton Center near San Diego as well as the King Fahad Medical Center in Saudi Arabia. Varian has also been selected to provide equipment for new proton therapy centers at the University of Maryland and in Mestre, Italy. Besides IBA, Mevion, and Varian, companies like Sumitomo, Mitsubishi, Hitachi, P-Cure, ProTom International, and Panacea, have all committed themselves to manufacturing their own modalities.
