Mevion Medical Systems just became the first proton therapy manufacturer to ramp up two new facilities in the span of about one month. Its single room, gantry mounted accelerator is part of a trend away from the traditional multi-room proton therapy centers that currently dominate the segment.

"We want to reduce the complexity of proton therapy and make it as simple as X-ray therapy," said Jachinowski to DOTmed News. The string of openings seem to indicate that the strategy is working so far.

“Our customers quickly develop familiarity with clinical aspects of the system and the user interfaces — ranging from the hand pendant to the couch to the end-room monitors, to the treatment council used to beam-on the machine," said Jachinowski.
There are other companies taking a similar approach to Mevion's. IBA installed its ProteusONE, a compact proton therapy system at the Willis-Knighton Cancer Center in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 2013. Varian Medical Systems has also thrown its hat into the compact conversation with a miniature version of their ProBeam system that they launched in 2014.

A consensus in the industry is that while the massive, three- or four-room proton centers will always be necessary in certain areas, the single room systems can help provide care in the regions between them. "Our solution is very viable in environments where the cities are not quite as big but it’s also a long way away from the next big city," said Jachinowski.

Mevion currently has three sites treating patients. The S. Lee Kling at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri; the Ackerman Cancer Center in Jacksonville, Florida, (first-ever physician-owned proton therapy facility in the world); and The Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Meanwhile, several Mevion installations are in various stages of completion throughout the U.S.

The Stephenson Cancer Center at the University of Oklahoma is expected to start treating patients within the next few months. Installation has begun for a MedStar Georgetown University proton center in Washington D.C., and two other MEVION S250 facilities are planned for development at the University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center in Cleveland, and the University of Florida Health Cancer Center.

“We don’t like to announce them until our customers are ready to announce them but you’ll be seeing several of those coming out shortly,” said Jachinowski. When asked what the global MEVION S250 install base might look like five years from now, he estimated somewhere in the ballpark of 40 facilities.

Back to HCB News

Proton Therapy Homepage