A native born and trained Brazilian oncologist is in the forefront of a new era in the treatment of cancer patients with cutting edge proton therapy medical technology developed in Israel by P-Cure.
TEL AVIV, Israel, May 5, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- A native born and trained Brazilian oncologist is in the forefront of a new era in the treatment of cancer patients with cutting edge proton therapy medical technology developed in Israel by P-Cure.
Dr. Marcel Fang was born in Santos-SP and has lived all his life in Sao Paulo-Brazil. He graduated in Radiation Oncology at Dr. Arnaldo Vieira de Carvalho Cancer Institute in 2010. For several years he worked in leadership positions to expand a model of radiotherapy care focused on high technical quality in order to bring advanced radiotherapy techniques to a portion of the Brazilian population that previously did not have this opportunity. After the success of spreading this model of radiotherapy care throughout several Brazilian states, he decided to move with his family to Israel.
For the past year, Dr. Fang has been working in the Radiotherapy Department at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. During the same year, Hadassah, in partnership with the Israeli company P-Cure, began to offer proton therapy services using the P-Cure Solution for delivering the most targeted type of radiation treatment to Israeli cancer patients. The center is the only available proton facility in the Middle East.
Joining the Hadassah team, Dr. Fang has had the opportunity to gain experience in treating his patients with proton therapy. "It is an amazing, targeted treatment choice that opens new horizons in treating cancer patients with radiation. The P-Cure technology further maximizes the clinical benefits of proton therapy in terms of better efficacy and reduced toxicity, while markedly reducing the cost of treatment. It is my dream to be able to bring this breakthrough technology back to Brazil," says Dr. Fang.
Proton is a highly accurate form of radiotherapy that uses a proton beam, a charged particle, to destroy tumor cells in a highly precise and effective way. Unlike photon beams (X-rays), which deposits its maximum energy as it enters the body, a proton beam it deposits a very high dose in the tumor region and a minimal dose in the healthy tissue regions. This characteristic allows for highly effective treatment with significantly reduced side effects.
The treatment being delivered to Hadassah patients utilizes a unique feature of the P-Cure Proton Therapy System which enables diagnostic quality imaging capable of tracking changes occurring in a patient's body during the treatment, especially in the tumor shape and location, as well as the position of healthy tissues around the tumor site. As such, this systems versatility enables adjustment of the treatment plan in accordance with the new changing anatomy. This approach, called adaptive therapy, ensures that the treatment dose always covers the tumor without dangerous radiation to the healthy tissue and organs.
"Bringing proton therapy to developing countries such as Brazil is difficult because the medical insurance reimbursement is insufficient to make the business model viable; yet, the number of cancer patients is enormous. The main barrier to installing new technologies in countries like Brazil is cost effectiveness. The Unified Health System (SUS) is saturated and has a very high cost. Brazil's supplementary health system also has little reserve for expanding procedures," says Dr. Fang.
"Proton therapy has proven to be effective and has a low side-effect profile, but the proton solutions previously available made its cost-effectiveness the biggest impediment to new installations in Brazil. One of the main advantages of the solution presented by P-Cure is that it is the most affordable solution on the market, but even more important, is the fact that proton therapy allows treatment with fewer side effects, thus placing less of a burden on health systems over the years and allowing patients to return to their jobs more quickly," says Dr. Fang.
"The P-Cure proton system is fully ready for delivery to oncology centers interested in updating their cancer treatment options," said Dr. Michael Marash, CEO of P-Cure. "We are ushering in a new era in proton therapy. The P-Cure Solution features a synchrotron-based gantry-less system which can fit into Linac rooms. It can easily be delivered to existing buildings using nothing more than the freight elevator and can be clinically ready to treat patients in a year after contracting. It will cost about half of legacy systems and have reduced maintenance costs. The P-Cure Solution is a fully integrated comprehensive planning and treatment modality ready to expand patient access to proton therapy, will be somewhat immune to challenging reimbursement issues, as well as deliver a more rapid ROI."
In the past 10 years, there has been a large expansion in radiotherapy centers using proton therapy for more indications due to the possibility of protecting healthy tissue. Proton therapy is currently used for the treatment of brain, spine, head and neck, pediatric, ocular, liver, lung, prostate, breast cancers, sarcomas and other benign tumors. The P-Cure system is designed to treat 400 patients annually based on standard protocols and at least double the number of patients based on accelerated procedures, called Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy. "Such unprecedented treatment throughput democratizes the use of proton therapy to maximal number of patients. This is particularly important in Brazil with a population of 213 million people and 704,000 new cases of cancer diagnosed annually, which is probably underestimated due to poor access to diagnostic services for general population," said Dr. Marash.
The P-Cure treatment room includes a fully adjustable seated and supine position capable of both CT treatment planning and beam delivery to all tumor sites. In addition to the compact size and cost saving of the "P-Cure Solution," the benefits of treating patients in the seated position are expected to include more precise proton beam delivery, better clinical outcomes, as well as greater patient comfort, less internal organ movement, better saliva drainage and easier breathing for asthmatic and other patients experiencing impaired breathing. Clinically, the development of the treatment delivery benefits may also include less collateral radiation to sensitive organs while enabling greater accuracy in proton beam delivery.
About P-Cure:
Founded in 2007, P-Cure is at the forefront of democratizing Proton Therapy, offering the most compact FDA-cleared solution for treating cancer patients. Our comprehensive system enables the planning and treatment of patients with Proton Therapy in both supine and seated positions, tailored to fit Linac-like vaults within existing or new radiation therapy centers.
Operating globally with production, service and R&D platforms in the US, Israel, and China, P-Cure collaborates closely with healthcare providers supporting them in achieving unprecedented return on investment with operating breakeven typically within a year of implementation.
P-Cure is dedicated to ushering in a new era in life-saving technology accessible to all oncology centers and their patients, revolutionizing the landscape of cancer treatment worldwide.
For more information please visit: http://www.p-cure.com
Media Contact
Steephen Jacobs, P-Cure, 1 9173468619, [email protected], www.p-cure.com
SOURCE P-Cure
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