DeKalb, Ill.—The Northern Illinois Proton Treatment and Research Center, LLC, announced today it will purchase equipment for its proton therapy treatment center—including a 250-MeV superconducting cyclotron—from Varian Medical Systems, Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif.  (NYSE:VAR).

The project’s 90-ton superconducting cyclotron is under construction in Germany and is expected to be ready for installation by early 2009. 

A groundbreaking for the proton therapy cancer treatment and research center will be held at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, June 19, at its site, 777 Discovery Drive, at the DuPage National Technology Park in West Chicago. The proton therapy center will be built on 15 acres in the technology park, with the total cost, including building and facilities construction and cost of equipment, expected to be approximately $159 million. 

“Our plan continues to be right on track to build what will be a world-class proton therapy treatment and research center,” NIU President John Peters said. “It is one of the most important endeavors the university has ever undertaken. We have a long history of service to the Chicago region, and proton therapy will bring hope to countless cancer patients in northern Illinois and beyond.”

Proton therapy is an advanced, highly effective form of radiation treatment. It uses a particle accelerator—in this case, a superconducting cyclotron—to generate proton beams and deposit them accurately within tumors while sparing adjacent healthy tissues and organs. Unlike the more common photon radiotherapy, with beams that pass all the way through the patient’s body, proton therapy beams can be set to stop and distribute most of their radiation dose at the depth of the tumor. This makes it possible to protect more healthy tissue, which is especially important where surrounding healthy tissues are particularly sensitive to radiation.  

Proton therapy is a non-invasive and precise radiotherapy treatment, and is particularly useful for certain pediatric and adult cancers. Proton therapy is currently unavailable in Illinois, and only five proton therapy centers are currently operating nationwide.

This will be the first proton therapy treatment facility in the United States for which Varian Medical Systems has supplied equipment.  The company’s technology for proton therapy incorporates a unique pencil-beam scanning capability that can offer performance advantages in creating precise dose distributions.

“The Varian equipment was viewed by the proton center’s technical advisory team as the preferred technology,” said John Lewis, executive director of the Northern Illinois Proton Treatment and Research Center and NIU associate vice president for administration and outreach. “The Varian cyclotron has a high energy level so it can produce a proton beam that allows for the treatment of deeper-seated tumors.”

“Varian Medical Systems is excited about the prospects of developing the proton therapy treatment equipment for the Northern Illinois Proton Treatment and Research Center,” said Lester Boeh, vice president of Varian’s emerging businesses. “We look forward to a very fruitful and long-term relationship.”

Varian Medical Systems is the world’s leading manufacturer of medical devices and software for treating cancer and other medical conditions with radiotherapy, radiosurgery, proton therapy and brachytherapy. The company also supplies informatics software for managing comprehensive cancer clinics, radiotherapy centers and medical oncology practices.

The Northern Illinois Proton Treatment and Research Center, LLC, is a spin-off company of the Northern Illinois University Research Foundation. Earlier this year, Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation was named as the provider of clinical services for the proton therapy center. The Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board gave its final go-ahead on the project in February.

When fully operational, the center will be designed to treat as many as 1,500 patients annually. It will also educate and train health professionals for work in the particle-therapy field.

Additional information about the Northern Illinois Proton Treatment and Research Center is online at www.niu.edu/protontherapy/. For more information about Varian Medical Systems, see www.varian.com.

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As with all proton therapy installations in the United States, this one will require a clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Because each proton therapy installation is uniquely designed and built, the FDA allows the manufacturers to engage in contracts to build facilities or to sell proton therapy equipment prior to such approval, however, approval must be obtained prior to clinical use.

A 250-MeV superconducting cyclotron will generate the proton beams used in proton therapy.

Image courtesy of Varian Medical Systems, Inc.