Healthcare Industry News: Magnetic Resonance Imaging
News Release - October 29, 2012
Elekta’s Growth Through Innovation to Increase Use of Radiation Therapy and Improve Lives of Cancer Patients
STOCKHOLM--(Healthcare Sales & Marketing Network)--Speaking at the Elekta Capital Markets Day during the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) meeting in Boston today, Elekta President and CEO, Tomas Puusepp said that Elekta plays an increasingly important role in modern cancer care.Today about one million cancer patients are treated with Elekta solutions annually. Elekta aspires to double this number through new and improved solutions and increased accessibility to them around the world. The use of radiation therapy has the potential to increase substantially in most markets in coming years. Elekta will continue to pioneer disease-specific cancer care solutions.
Puusepp reiterated the strong growth outlook for the company for the fiscal year 2012/13. He said net sales is expected to grow by more than 15 percent in local currency, including Nucletron, and operating profits in SEK is expected to grow by more than 15 percent, including Nucletron. He says an aging population, which is living longer, combined with early diagnosis and improved treatments and survival will increase the demand for cancer care significantly.
“Our investment in innovation plays an important role in meeting the growing demand for radiation therapy, improving the outcomes for patients and bringing value to society,” Puusepp told the audience of investors and analysts. “R&D is a key driver for improved cancer care and sustainable long term growth. By involving customers in the development process through collaboration, we ensure our solutions deliver value to patients from the first day.”
Dee Mathieson, Senior Vice President, Elekta Oncology, said: “Our strong R&D organization is well prepared to meet disease-specific challenges. We recently launched the Agility® (http://www.elekta.com/agility) system which has now been shipped to 21 countries worldwide in the past six months.” She cited the multileaf collimator as the latest confirmation of Elekta’s commitment to innovation and R&D leadership.
“Prostate cancer is the most frequent male cancer and the incidence of new cases is expected to nearly double within 20 years,” she said. “Elekta’s Clarity® (http://www.elekta.com/clarity) 4D Monitoring using Autoscan* has significantly improved imaging and motion management when treating prostate cancer. Clinicians can now monitor the motion of the prostate and surrounding tissues and organs in real time and with sub-millimetric accuracy during beam delivery.”
She also commented on Elekta’s collaboration with clinical research groups to develop a breakthrough in cancer care using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) with a linear accelerator**. Mathieson said: “Combining radiotherapy delivery simultaneously with MRI in a single treatment system is the next-generation innovation for treatment of cancer.”
Todd Powell, Executive Vice President, Elekta Software, said software plays an increasingly important role in enabling patient-centric cancer care solutions. “To optimize a typical treatment, over 1,000 patient-specific data points are measured and used. All Elekta hardware is now integrated with MOSAIQ® (http://www.elekta.com/healthcare-professionals/products/elekta-software/radiation-oncology.html), the leading oncology information system (OIS) on the market.” A number of new features were presented during ASTRO including the new module, MOSAIQ® Evaluate that significantly facilitates the evaluation of treatment plans directly in MOSAIQ.
Leksell Gamma Knife® (http://www.elekta.com/healthcare-professionals/products/ elekta-neuroscience/gamma-knife-surgery/gamma-knife-4c.html) has unique clinical advantages such as superior precision and dose conformity for treating targets in the brain. Leksell Gamma Knife plays a key role in treating patients with brain metastases, an indication which is rapidly growing.
“The widespread use of data registries will have a large impact on delivering better treatment in the future,” said Åsa Hedin, Executive Vice President, Elekta Neuroscience. She explained how Leksell Gamma Knife integrates with MOSAIQ® Connectivity. “Once it is launched clinically, it will integrate Leksell Gamma Knife® Perfexion™ (http://www.elekta.com/healthcare-professionals/products/elekta-neuroscience/gamma-knife-surgery/gamma-knife-perfexion.html) into a hospital’s OIS, enabling the use of one single OIS regardless of delivery device.”
Elekta’s brachytherapy afterloaders are being connected to the MOSAIQ OIS, said John Lapré, Executive Vice President, Elekta Brachytherapy Solutions. He told the audience that by building on Elekta’s total customer base of some 6,000 hospitals and clinics there are good prospects for further growth. He cited a recent study, which showed outstanding results for patients who received combined brachytherapy and external beam radiation therapy.***
Jay Hoey, Executive Vice President, North America, said the region is the world’s largest market for radiation therapy and that Elekta is growing in the US market. “During the past years we have had an annual organic order growth outperforming the market. Furthermore, Elekta has strengthen its number one ranking in independent customer survey's such as KLAS, IMV and MD Buyline.
“Elekta is well positioned for further growth in North America,” Hoey said. “We’ll provide superior solutions in the form of streamlined workflow and advanced treatments, resulting in higher efficiency and greater effectiveness.” He said he sees further opportunities as Elekta’s Agility gains traction in the market.
* Clarity® with Autoscan is a work in progress and not for sale in all markets.
**Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) combined with a linear accelerator (http://www.elekta.com/pressreleases/710924/elekta-and-philips-establish-research-consortium-to-leverage-a-breakthrough-in-cancer-care-with-integration-of-a-linear-accelerator-and-mr-imaging.html) is a works in progress and not available for sale or distribution.
*** Comparative analysis of prostate-specific antigen free survival outcomes for patients with low, intermediate and high risk prostate cancer treatment by radical therapy (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22239226). Results from the Prostate Cancer Results Study Group, Peter Grimm et al. 2012.
The above information is such that Elekta AB (publ) shall make public in accordance with the Securities Market Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information was published at 18:00 CET on October 29, 2012.
About Elekta
Elekta is a human care company pioneering significant innovations and clinical solutions for treating cancer and brain disorders. The company develops sophisticated, state-of-the-art tools and treatment planning systems for radiation therapy, radiosurgery and brachytherapy, as well as workflow enhancing software systems across the spectrum of cancer care. Stretching the boundaries of science and technology, providing intelligent and resource-efficient solutions that offer confidence to both healthcare providers and patients, Elekta aims to improve, prolong and even save patient lives.
Today, Elekta solutions in oncology and neurosurgery are used in over 6,000 hospitals worldwide. Elekta employs around 3,400 employees globally. The corporate headquarters is located in Stockholm, Sweden, and the company is listed on the Nordic Exchange under the ticker EKTAb. Website: www.elekta.com.
Source: Elekta
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