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.
"It is my dream to be able to bring the
P-Cure breakthrough technology back to Brazil," says Dr. Fang.
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, stephen.jacobs@p-cure.com, www.p-cure.com
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prweb.com/releases/brazilian-doctor-ushering-in-new-era-of-medical-technology-for-treating-cancer-and-seeks-to-bring-proton-therapy-to-brazil-302135246.html
SOURCE P-Cure