MRI-Guided Radiation Therapy System Offers Integrated Imaging and Radiation Therapy

New technology features a novel combination of radiotherapy delivery and simultaneous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the treatment of cancer. The system provides continuous soft-tissue imaging during treatment so that clinicians can see and record precisely where radiation therapy is being delivered, as it is being delivered.

ViewRay, Inc. (Cleveland, OH, USA), a medical device company, has received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) premarket notification clearance for its MRI-guided radiation therapy system. ViewRay’s treatment planning and delivery software received 510(k) premarket notification clearance in 2011.

“FDA clearance of our integrated system is a major milestone in the development of our technology,” said ViewRay president and CEO Gregory M. Ayers, MD, PhD. “It has already been an exciting year for ViewRay, with an additional round of funding and the installation of our first research systems at major US medical centers. Early clinical imaging studies have verified the quality of the system’s MR images, and now we’re looking forward to clinical applications.”

ViewRay’s patented cancer treatment technology was invented by company founder James F. Dempsey, PhD, while he was a member of the radiation oncology faculty at the University of Florida. “ViewRay began with the idea that we need to see what exactly we’re doing when we treat cancer patients with radiation therapy,” said Dr. Dempsey, now ViewRay’s chief scientific officer. “Thanks to our clear vision, an outstanding engineering team, and dedicated leadership, we’re now able to bring that idea into the clinic, where it can help cancer patients.”

ViewRay recently closed the final tranche of a USD 45 million round of Series C venture capital financing intended to advance the ViewRay system toward commercialization. The first ViewRay system is installed at the Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, MO, USA), where early imaging studies have taken place.

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