Meridian to Become First Health Network in New Jersey to Plan Systemwide Deployment of TrueBeam™ Technology for Advanced Radiotherapy Treatments

NEPTUNE, N.J., March 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Meridian Health of New Jersey is initiating a program to deploy TrueBeam™ technology from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE:VAR) across its network of cancer treatment clinics.  

Meridian's plan is to install seven TrueBeam machines at its five sites, together with Varian's ARIA® data management and Eclipse™ treatment planning software.  The network will be integrated and centrally managed using Varian's FullScale™ cloud-based oncology IT data hosting solution.  Meridian is also acquiring patient support tools including tumor registry and a survivorship software product that enables cancer centers to provide coordinated navigation and survivorship care planning for cancer patients.

"These new technologies will support our multi-disciplinary team of experts us as we continue to expand our state of the art radiation therapy program at Meridian," said Mark J. Krasna, M.D., corporate medical director for Meridian Cancer Care. "The TrueBeam machines help enhance our radiosurgery capabilities to patients throughout central and southern New Jersey, offer many patients shorter treatments, and add arc therapy to the range of treatment options we currently utilize."

The TrueBeam technology acquisition is part of a multi-year, approximately $30 million strategic agreement between Varian and Meridian to expand, upgrade, and standardize radiotherapy and radiosurgery treatment capabilities across the entire system.  The strategic agreement was reached and a portion of the system order was booked during the first quarter of Varian's fiscal year 2014.  The remainder of the order will be booked over the term of the agreement.

Under the agreement, Varian will also provide professional consulting services to help the clinical teams implement best practice recommendations for patient workflow and throughput at each cancer center.   

"There are many ways to customize and configure the ARIA oncology information system, and we want to be sure that the Meridian cancer centers are able to fully realize the workflow enhancements that are available," said Steve Schroeder, Varian's vice president of strategic accounts.  "Our consultants have deep experience evaluating work processes, assessing a department's needs, identifying the features of the software programs that will be most useful, and developing an implementation roadmap."

Varian's TrueBeam System for Image-Guided Radiotherapy and Radiosurgery
TrueBeam was designed to treat tumors with great speed and accuracy, including tumors that move during treatment as the patient breathes.  It features a multitude of technical innovations that synchronize imaging, patient positioning, motion management, and treatment delivery and can deliver dose up to four times faster than was possible with earlier generations of technology. 

TrueBeam can quickly and precisely deliver a broad range of radiotherapy treatments, from stereotactic radiosurgery and stereotactic body radiotherapy to image-guided intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and RapidArc.  In RapidArc mode, the treatment beam is continually shaped and reshaped to match the shape of the tumor from every angle as the treatment machine completes one or more rotations around the patient.  RapidArc treatments can take as little as 90 seconds to complete once a patient has been carefully positioned. 

"Meridian Health, a leading not-for-profit health care organization in New Jersey, is consistently rated among the top performing health systems in the State for clinical quality," said Schroeder.  "We are pleased that they have decided to work closely with Varian to deploy radiotherapy and practice management tools across their system.  We look forward to a long, collaborative, productive relationship in keeping with our goal of helping clinicians save millions of lives around the world every year."

"We will begin roll-out of the new systems this year," said Adnan F. Danish, M.D., chairman of radiation oncology at Meridian Health.  "This means patients will continue to get the most advanced treatment options, close to home, as Meridian continues to stay at the forefront of cancer care."

Note to editors: High resolution images of the TrueBeam system are available here.

About Meridian Health
Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization in New Jersey, comprising Jersey Shore University Medical Center and K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital in Neptune, Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin, Bayshore Community Hospital in Holmdel, and Meridian Partner Companies that include home health services, skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers, ambulatory care, ambulance services, and outpatient centers. Meridian Health has consistently been rated among the top performing health systems in New Jersey for clinical quality, is one of the FORTUNE "100 Best Companies to Work For", and is the recipient of numerous state and national recognitions for patient care and nursing excellence.  Meridian Health is the only System Partner of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey.
For more information, please visit www.MeridianHealth.com.

About Varian Medical Systems
Varian Medical Systems, Inc., of Palo Alto, California, is the world's leading manufacturer of medical devices and software for treating cancer and other medical conditions with radiotherapy, radiosurgery, and brachytherapy. The company supplies informatics software for managing comprehensive cancer clinics, radiotherapy centers and medical oncology practices. Varian is a premier supplier of tubes and digital detectors for X-ray imaging in medical, scientific, and industrial applications and also supplies X-ray imaging products for cargo screening and industrial inspection. Varian Medical Systems employs approximately 6,400 people who are located at manufacturing sites in North America, Europe, and China and 72 sales and support offices around the world.  For more information, visit http://www.varian.com or follow us on Twitter.

Forward-Looking Statements
Except for historical information, this news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements concerning industry outlook, including growth drivers; the company's future orders, revenues or other financial performance; the ability of the company's technology and products to treat cancer; and any statements using the terms "will," "plan," "expect," "estimated," or similar statements are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. Such risks and uncertainties include the effect of global economic conditions; demand for the company's products; the company's ability to develop, commercialize, and deploy new products; the company's ability to meet legal and regulatory requirements; changes in the legal or regulatory environment; and the other risks listed from time to time in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which by this reference are incorporated herein. The company assumes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements in this release because of new information, future events, or otherwise.

FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:
Meryl Ginsberg, 650-424-6444
[email protected]

SOURCE Varian Medical Systems