IBA and Philips step up collaboration in adaptive proton therapy planning to advance personalized cancer care

Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium and Amsterdam, the Netherlands – Building on their collaborative achievements since 2014 to provide advanced diagnostic and therapeutic oncology solutions, IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A.), the world’s leading provider of proton therapy solutions, and Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG AEX: PHIA), a leader in health technology, today announced that they are stepping up their combined efforts in adaptive proton therapy planning. 

The long-term collaboration between the two companies includes the joint marketing and sales of Philips’ imaging and clinical informatics solutions in oncology and IBA’s proton therapy solutions and the joint development of new products for image-guided proton therapy and treatment modalities. By merging their respective expertise in image guidance and therapy, Philips and IBA continue to co-innovate in diagnostic and therapeutic oncology solutions with the ultimate objective of enabling more effective and personalized cancer care. IBA and Philips share the understanding that adaptive therapy planning is key to meeting this objective. The strategic partners have already secured certified compatibility between Philips’ Pinnacle3 therapy planning software** and IBA’s proton therapy solution, and they will now jointly develop next-generation proton therapy planning methods to further increase efficiencies in the patient treatment workflow.

Also a result of the collaboration, more than 30 IBA proton therapy centers are expected to benefit from an enhanced Cone Beam CT imaging technology. This advanced imaging technology provides the large field-of-view needed for enhanced image guidance during proton therapy procedures. To this end, a new software algorithm with an optimized balance between speed and image quality has been developed by the two long-term partners.

“There is a strong willingness to strengthen and accelerate the strategic partnership between our companies to give more patients access to proton therapy across the globe,” said Olivier Legrain, Chief Executive Officer at IBA. “All the achievements reached during the last two years demonstrate the benefit of the relationship between the two organizations in staying at the forefront of innovation in cancer treatment.”

“Our aim in oncology is to improve patient outcomes and enhance quality of life, combined with the best possible patient experience,” said Ronald de Jong, Chief Market Leader at Royal Philips. “With our combined technologies and services for informed, confident decision making, imaging, precision planning and targeted patient-specific therapy, IBA and Philips can help to make this possible. We are delighted with the progress we have made in bringing advanced proton therapy to more people. We look forward to continuing our joint innovation efforts and making a real difference in cancer care.”

IBA and Philips offer unique integrated solutions for proton therapy and molecular imaging centers. They are currently installing state-of-the-art proton therapy solutions at three compact proton therapy centers in the UK, one compact center in the Middle East, and one large proton therapy center in India. Depending on the proton therapy center, the installed solution can include IBA’s proton therapy systems, such as the Proteus®ONE* and Proteus®PLUS*, and Philips’ imaging and clinical informatics solutions, such as Philips’ Big Bore CT and PET CT systems and Philips’ Pinnacle3 Treatment Planning System.