Patent License Agreement with MIT for Advanced Proton Therapy Technology

Still River Systems, Inc. (Littleton, MA, USA) reported that that it has entered into a long-term licensing agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT; Cambridge, MA, USA) to utilize advanced superconducting accelerator technologies developed at MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center in collaboration with Still River.

Still River will employ those technologies in conjunction with its own leading-edge developments in its groundbreaking single-room proton therapy platform, the Monarch250. This novel medical device houses a groundbreaking source of high-energy protons based on the world's highest field strength superconducting synchrocyclotron that provides a considerable reduction in the size, cost, and complexity of developing and operating a proton therapy center.

The precision of proton therapy makes it an important treatment option for patients with cancer. Protons can be directed to concentrate their energy precisely on the cancerous tumor while sparing the surrounding healthy tissue, resulting in far fewer short and long-term treatment complications. The first Monarch250 is currently under installation at the Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis (MO, USA), a US National Cancer Institute (NCI) Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The proton accelerator has been undergoing complete clinical testing and commissioning, including lifetime testing, and all clinical parameters have exceeded performance expectations. "The innovative design of our proton therapy platform, aided by the technology developed with MIT, results in a simple and modular system thus enabling quick, efficient, and cost effective installations," states CEO Joseph Jachinowski. "With our first system nearing completion, we are now beginning to reap the benefits of its unique design by finalizing a complete process that can be replicated to meet the growing proton therapy demand in a cost-efficient manner."

Still River Systems will be exhibiting at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) in Vancouver, British Columbia, on July 31, 2011, through August 3, 2011.

Still River Systems is focused on providing physicians, and their patients, access to high quality, cost-effective proton therapy solutions. Still River Systems is developing the Monarch250, a cost-effective, precise, and compact proton therapy system for cancer treatment.

The Monarch250 has not been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration for distribution or clinical use.

Related Links:
Still River Systems
Massachusetts Institute of Technology