RaySearch Laboratories AB (publ.) has entered into an exclusive license agreement with University Health Network’s Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, Canada regarding techniques for automated planning of breast cancer treatments.
The Princess Margaret has for a long time developed and refined a technique for automated planning of intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) for breast cancer patients. The technique emulates the often time-consuming steps that are performed during treatment planning including organ segmentation, beam optimization, IMRT optimization and dose calculation. Therefore, dosimetrists can produce complete clinical treatment plans and automated quality assurance reporting in just a few minutes instead of spending up to several hours on each plan. The Princess Margaret has been using this technology clinically for a number of years and validated these techniques in extensive studies demonstrating considerable time saving and also equivalent or better plan quality compared with standard manual planning.
The new agreement, licensed through the Technology Development and Commercialization Office at University Health Network gives RaySearch the right to integrate algorithms and know-how from Princess Margaret Cancer Centre’s technology for automated planning of breast treatments into RaySearch’s RayStation® treatment planning system, where it will be built into the system’s extensive module for automated treatment planning.
“The Princess Margaret is a world leader in radiation therapy research and we are very excited that they have chosen to work with us to commercialize this proven technology. Automated treatment planning has the potential to secure consistent high plan quality and to add efficiencies, saving considerable time for the clinicians. When valuable planning time is saved by automating routine steps of the planning process, the dosimetrists can instead spend more time on optimizing and adapting the treatments for each individual patient where it matters the most. Therefore this technology is an important step to further improve treatment quality,” says Johan Löf, CEO of RaySearch.
“We have worked together with RaySearch on several different research projects and are also RayStation® users, so we know that they are very capable of quickly integrating state-of-the-art methods into their software solutions,” says Michael Sharpe, Associate Head of Radiation Physicsat the Princess Margaret.
Mark Taylor, Director of Commercialization of UHN’s new Techna Institute for the advancement of health technology, adds, “This deal represents how we do commercial business at UHN. Efficiency and quality of care is improved through the development of technology that is proven and implemented clinically at the Princess Margaret. Commercialization activities are embedded from the start of the program and using partnerships with leading companies like RaySearch, the technology is made accessible for the benefit of cancer patients all over the world.”
“RayStation® was already the leading treatment planning system in terms of efficiency and usability with unique tools such as our solution for multi-criteria optimization. I believe that the integration of this and other technologies for automated treatment planning further strengthens RayStation’s position as the best treatment planning system for the future,” concludes Johan Löf.
About RayStation®
RayStation® integrates all RaySearch’s advanced treatment planning solutions into a flexible treatment planning system. It combines unique features such as multi-criteria optimization tools with full support for 4D adaptive radiation therapy. It also includes functionality such as RaySearch’s market-leading algorithms for IMRT and VMAT optimization and highly accurate dose engines for both photon and proton therapy. The system is built on the latest software architecture and has a graphical user interface offering state-of-the-art usability.
About RaySearch
RaySearch Laboratories is a medical technology company that develops advanced software solutions for improved radiation therapy of cancer. RaySearch’s products are mainly sold through license agreements with leading partners such as Philips, Nucletron, IBA Dosimetry, Varian, Accuray and Siemens. To date, 15 products have been launched through partners and RaySearch’s software is used at over 2,000 clinics in more than 30 countries. In addition, RaySearch offers the proprietary treatment planning system RayStation® directly to clinics. RaySearch was founded in 2000 as a spin-off from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm and the company is listed in the Small Cap segment on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm.
For more information about RaySearch, visit www.raysearchlabs.com
For further information, please contact:
Johan Löf, President and CEO, RaySearch Laboratories AB
Telephone: +46 (0)8-545 061 30
johan.lof@raysearchlabs.com