Proton therapy provider IBA and Philips Healthcare parent Royal Philips have signed an agreement to boost patient access to photon therapy in India, the companies said.
Building on an alliance undertaken by the firms in 2013, the partnership combines IBA's proton therapy expertise with Philips' clinical informatics and imaging experience for therapy planning and image guidance, they noted.
Proton therapy combined with advanced imaging using MRI, PET, and CT can increase confidence in cancer diagnosis and treatment, enabling clinicians to better target cancer cells while avoiding healthy tissues, the vendors stated. Protons deposit most of their energy within the tumor, which limits the damage to surrounding tissues.
The new initiative will go far in improving the quality of cancer treatment in India, which suffers from a high incidence of cancer at 70 to 90 cases per 100,000 people, about 5% of which are children, they said.
