ProCure Treatment Centers Teams With University Of Pennsylvania To Advance Proton Therapy Training, Research And Development

ProCure Treatment Centers, Inc. and the University of Pennsylvania's Roberts Proton Therapy Center announced an agreement that will provide advanced training programs and accredit medical professionals in proton therapy - an alternative to conventional radiation therapy that avoids many of the side effects inherent in treatment. The agreement focuses on expanding research on the technology to be used for the delivery of proton therapy and developing new protocols using protons to treat a wider range of cancer tumors.

Protons are currently used primarily to treat about a dozen diagnoses including base-of-skull tumors, ocular melanoma, sinus tumors, pediatric cancers and prostate cancer. As more centers are developed and the capacity for patients increases, the Roberts Proton Therapy Center and ProCure have agreed to establish new clinical studies to evaluate the use of protons in areas such as proton therapy in combination with chemotherapy and the improved results obtained from increasing the dose delivered to the tumor. ProCure's network of proton therapy centers will significantly increase the number of patients that can potentially be enrolled in studies. The Center will provide oversight, establish data collection procedures, analyze data and work through any necessary regulatory process.

"The partnership allows us to integrate our research with a national network of proton therapy centers all working to learn more about the optimal utilization of proton therapy," said Stephen M. Hahn, MD, Chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology. "With an estimated 250,000 patients who could benefit from proton therapy each year, the more research and data we can collect, the better we will be able to treat patients."

It is anticipated that within the next five years, at least 10 new proton therapy facilities will open in the United States, including the Roberts Proton Therapy Center and several centers under development by ProCure, resulting in a significant need for trained staff at all levels. The Center and ProCure intend to collaborate on setting standards for proton therapy education and training, and will offer accreditation in the field. Training programs are slated to be provided at the ProCure Training and Development Center (TDC), the world's first training center dedicated exclusively to proton therapy. The 20,000-square-foot training facility is located in Bloomington, Ind. The TDC simulates a working proton therapy center and will provide training for radiation oncologists, medical physicists, dosimetrists, radiation therapists and other staff.

"By partnering with a world renowned academic institution that has a strong interest in furthering the use of proton therapy, we can significantly enhance the caliber of training programs at the Training and Development Center," said Niek Schreuder, Senior Vice President of Technology at ProCure. "This will be the first facility to offer accreditation in proton therapy, which is an important advance in the field."

ProCure is working with community hospitals and local radiation oncology practices to open proton centers across the country. ProCure has a center under construction in Oklahoma and one planned for Illinois. When it opens in summer 2009, the Roberts Proton Therapy Center will be the largest and most comprehensive proton therapy facility in the world, and only the sixth operating proton therapy center in the U.S.