RaySearch’s commercial partners are companies that develop and sell treatment planning systems to hospitals and clinics that provide radiation therapy to cancer patients. RaySearch’s solutions are integrated into its partners’ systems, which the partners then sell and distribute to hospitals and clinics worldwide. To date, RaySearch has entered collaboration agreements with Philips, Nucletron, IBA Dosimetry, Varian, and Accuray.
Philips – World leader with breadth
Philips was RaySearch’s first commercial partner. The first agreement entered by the parties in 2000 related to the IMRT product p-RayOptimizer, which was released in 2001, with the supplementary products p-RayBiology and p-RayMachine released in 2004. The products are integrated into Philips’ Pinnacle treatment planning system. Exclusivity for these products expired in 2004, but the joint development work has since been intensified for the development of functionality over a broader application area and in June 2008 the agreement was extended with p-RayArc, a product for planning of VMAT treatments. p-RayArc was introduced on the market in April 2009.
Nucletron – Strong offering in radiation therapy
RaySearch signed a license agreement with Nucletron in IMRT in January 2004. The original agreement comprised six products for integration into Nucletron’s Oncentra™ treatment planning system. In 2005, the first product, n-RayOptimizer, was released, and in 2006, n-RayMachine/DSS and n-RayMachine/Angle were released. In 2009 this agreement was extended with n-RayArc for VMAT treatment planning and n-RayAnatomy/MBS for model based segmentation. Both these products were launched the same year in September. In addition to the launched products, the license agreement also covers n-RayBiology/ Eval, n-RayBiology/Opt and n-RayBiology/Fraction, which are three products for biological evaluation and optimization of IMRT.
In November 2006, another long-term development and licensing agreement was signed relating to proton radiation treatment of cancer. Proton radiation therapy has potentially even better characteristics than intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) with photon irradiation. In the future, this will be an important treatment technique, and the need for advanced software is increasingly strong . The new system being built by RaySearch will be included in Nucletron’s Oncentra™ treatment planning system.
IBA Dosimetry – Leader in dosimetry
In February 2006, a longterm development and license agreement was signed with IBA Dosimetry relating to three products within quality assurance of IMRT. In addition to these three products the agreement was extened with a fourth product, i-RayTracker, in 2008. Quality assurance of IMRT is a laborintensive process involving much manual work. Within the framework of this partnership, RaySearch is developing advanced software for automated quality assurance products, which will enable a significantly more efficient quality assurance process. The agreement constitutes an important expansion of RaySearch’s area of business, and the first products from the partnership, i-RayDose and i-Ray- Monitor, which are sold under the COMPASS® brand, were released in December 2007.
Varian Medical Systems - Market leader in cancer treatment
In May 2007, a long-term strategic license agreement was signed with Varian within which RaySearch will develop advanced software for treatment planning of radiation treatments for integration into Varian’s Eclipse treatment planning system. The agreement includes development of a number of components, such as radiobiological evaluation and radiobiological optimization of treatment plans for radiation therapy with photons/ electrons, intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and proton therapy, as well as optimization of conventional three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT). The three products for radiobiological evaluation, radiobiological optimization and optimization of conventional 3D-CRT plans were launched in June 2009. In April 2010 the collaboration was expanded with one additional product.
Accuray - Innovative fast-grower
RaySearch signed a license agreement with Accuray in August 2007. The agreement comprises development of a suite of products that facilitate the transfer of treatment plans between a TomoTherapysystem and a conventional linear accelerator. The ability to transfer treatment plans between TomoTherapy treatment systems and conventional linear accelerators results in a better work balance in clinics with different types of accelerators. This means better utilization of the accelerators and greater capacity for treating patients. The first product from the collaboration, t-RayAutoplan, was introduced on the market in April 2009 and is marketed by Accuray under the brand name SharePlan™.