Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, September 26 2016 – IBA, the worldwide leading expert in proton therapy is proud to announce that 50,000 patients have been treated by clinical partners using IBA's leading edge technology. With over half of the proton therapy centers worldwide and counting, the Belgian success story, treats more patients than all other proton therapy vendors combined.

Today, on average, 1 new patient is treated every hour on IBA systems around the globe, says Yves Jongen, Chief Research Officer and Founder of IBA. "But we won't stop there! Currently, less than 1% of radiation therapy patients have access to the advanced benefits of proton therapy. Our mission is to make proton therapy available to estimated 20% of radiation patients that could benefit from this type of treatment. Considering the pace at which this treatment is growing and gaining acceptance, we are confident that we will reach this goal".

More and more clinical opinion leaders are working on collecting and producing evidence confirming the added value of proton therapy. This addresses not only comparative clinical outcome, but also economic effectiveness of the total treatment. Proton therapy is offering new hope for patients with specific brain, eye, lung and head and neck cancers, due to their very sensitive locations in the body, where it is imperative to preserve surrounding healthy tissue. Most importantly, proton therapy has emerged as a preferred treatment option for pediatric cases, where the damage done to the still growing tissues and organs of children is often irreversible.
"Those developments will ultimately benefit everybody: more patients will get the best treatment for their personal health needs, and centers will be able to treat a growing number of patients more efficiently with less side effects. As proton therapy grows, the resources available for more R&D development will increase and the cost of treatment will decrease" explains Olivier Legrain, CEO of IBA.

This is the reason why IBA is investing between 12% and 15% of its revenue in R&D - currently the largest share in the sector. One of the outcomes of IBA's R&D was a cutting-edge proton therapy solution, Proteus®ONE. This is the most compact proton therapy system ever designed which is easier to implement, operate and finance.

The future of proton therapy is even more encouraging in the light of the advent of Adaptive Proton Therapy (adaPT), widely considered as the next breakthrough in the field. Adaptive workflows, as modular proton therapy processes, add yet another layer of accuracy in what many consider the most precise and least intrusive cancer treatment method. IBA recently created an international online Community platform (www.leadingthepath.com). This platform will enable experts in the field from all over the world to exchange experiences, discuss best practices and enhance knowledge, to improve the next generation of proton therapy treatment.

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