P-Cure has developed an imaging solution that better enables use of proton therapy, which allows for better targeted treatment of cancer cells in the body. The treatment has now been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, paving the way for the therapy to become accessible to more cancer patients.
As reported in Israel 21C:
Scientists have known for 60 years that proton therapy is a superior form of radiation therapy for cancerous tumors, because it allows for zapping diseased cells with higher doses of radiation while significantly reducing damage to healthy surrounding tissue.
However, proton therapy has been introduced in only a handful of cancer treatment centers because of the high cost of the machinery and space to house it.
Availability could improve dramatically now that a compact, lower-cost device from Israeli company P-Cure has received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval.
The patented P-Cure system uses diagnostic-quality computed tomography (CT) to enable proton-therapy treatment planning, positioning and delivery for cancer patients in a seated position.
The system is more cost-effective and more therapeutically effective than the current standard of treating the patient in a horizontal position, says Michael Marash, PhD, founder and CEO of P-Cure.
Adult and pediatric patients with cancers of the lung, breast, chest, lower torso, head and neck can benefit from this clinical breakthrough, Marash adds.
Advantages of proton therapy
Based in Lod, P-Cure started operations in 2007 with the goal of developing an affordable, compact, scalable device to image and monitor patients using robotic positioning and pencil-beam scanning to enable unprecedented access to tumor sites.
“The targeted nature of the technology eliminates damage to surrounding organs and can be used for all ages regardless of the location of the tumor,” says Marash.
“The market is huge; today 60 percent of cancer patients are treated with radiation. At least 20% of them are eligible to receive proton therapy,” he adds.
“There are 8,000 radiation oncology centers around the world, and only 50 of them use protons — 22 of them in the United States. Our objective is to change the paradigm and enable each center to have a proton system. It’s been very expensive and we can cut the cost by half.”
“The P-Cure team is committed to enabling all oncology centers and hospitals globally to establish cost-effective proton therapy services for the best possible care and cure.”
There are no proton therapy centres in Australia, although there is interest in establishing a treatment facility. Cheaper solutions by companies such as P-Cure can pave the way towards making the technology more accessible to Australian cancer sufferers.
Israel Trade and Economic Commission in Sydney, Australia 