JOINING FORCES TO ADAPT CANCER CARE

Two leaders join forces to adapt cancer care to patients and ensure economic value for the society
As of today cancer patients and healthcare systems will benefit from the results of a strategic global collaboration between Philips Healthcare and IBA. This is an exciting step as this partnership combines the excellence of two leading companies in oncology care. It will accelerate innovation and provide more efficient and effective solutions in molecular imaging and cancer therapy. Through this collaboration we can give clinical institutions important clinical options and business avenues to improve cancer care for their patients while providing the best economic value for healthcare systems.

A collaboration to build a patient-centric and adaptive cancer therapy
This alliance will bridge the gap between imaging and advanced proton therapy. Together Philips and IBA will help enhance cancer care. This collaboration offers a huge opportunity to associate highly precise diagnostic imaging with accurate radiation beam therapy. Enhanced diagnostics and patient qualification will first allow for an appropriate therapy selection. Then state-of-the-art imaging will inform clinical teams of the exact location and tumor volume to be treated while imaging biomarkers have the potential to provide information about tumor properties. It is then possible to accurately deliver the radiation dose in proton therapy while sparing healthy tissues. Finally, accuracy in imaging and in treatment delivery will give clinicians the ability to re-plan based on the treatment response or major anatomic changes. This approach to cancer care has the potential to increase the overall quality of the treatment and reduce short- and long-term side-effects. It helps improve the quality of life of the patient during and after the treatment while reducing the cost of treatment for the society.

Bringing the best of imaging to IBA’s advanced proton therapy solutions
Over the years IBA has developed an incredibly advanced cancer treatment delivery system. IBA proton therapy solutions are capable of delivering proton treatments in IMPT with Pencil Beam Scanning with a very high level of accuracy and confidence. The treatment can be adapted precisely to the specific tumor for each patient. Nevertheless the future challenges lie in managing the range uncertainty, tumor motion and more generally, the optimization of the workflow.
Collaborating with Philips, the world leader in imaging hence makes sense. This alliance will bring leading-edge imaging capabilities to IBA. It will support IBA in realizing its long-term strategy while fuelling innovation. This association has the power to bring proton therapy and cancer care as a whole to the next level.
First and foremost, the long standing relationship with Philips has enabled IBA to integrate patient centricity in its product design. The designs of the treatment rooms of ProteusPLUS and ProteusONE have benefited from Philips expertise and include Ambient Experience. It allows IBA to improve both patient and clinical staff experience while optimizing throughput.
Secondly, the specifics of proton therapy (i.e. high accuracy, control of the range) make imaging a key component if we are to deliver the highest standards of treatment quality. Challenges that need to be addressed are among others, patient positioning, motion management and range verification.

Together IBA and Philips will foster innovation and adapt cancer care to 21st century patients and society. The essence of this collaboration lies in a shared vision that the future of cancer care puts the patient is at the center of the clinical practice and brings the best economic value to healthcare systems. Philips and IBA have chosen a common road to make cancer care evolve towards adaptive proton therapy and the development of collaborative platforms with best-in-class partners.

Read the press release: http://www.iba-protontherapy.com/sites/default/files/pressroom/PR_IBA_Ph...