Varian Medical Systems Announces: TrueBeam™ System for Image-Guided Cancer Treatment Approved for Sale in China

BEIJING, April 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Varian Medical Systems, Inc. (NYSE: VAR), the world's leading manufacturer of medical technology for treating cancer with radiotherapy, today announced that the Chinese State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) has approved its TrueBeam™ system for image-guided radiotherapy.  TrueBeam is a fully-integrated system designed from the ground up to treat tumors with great speed and accuracy — including tumors that move during treatment as the patient breathes in and out.

TrueBeam features a multitude of technical innovations that dynamically synchronize imaging, patient positioning, motion management, and treatment delivery. With its High Intensity Mode, TrueBeam can deliver very high doses quickly and accurately, more than twice as fast as earlier generations of technology.  This makes it possible to significantly shorten treatments, and to improve precision by leaving less time for tumor motion during dose delivery.  It also enables clinics to offer advanced treatment to more cancer patients each day.

"Intelligent" automation further speeds treatments and makes the technology easier to use, with an up to five-fold reduction in the number of steps needed for imaging, positioning and treating patients. A standard intensity-modulated treatment that would typically take ten minutes can be completed in less than two minutes.  

Varian first introduced the TrueBeam system in the United States in April of last year.  It is now in use at more than 40 treatment centers across the United States and Europe to target tumors of the lung, liver, pancreas, head and neck, and many other organs.  

"The TrueBeam system is Varian's most advanced offering for dealing with tumor motion, which makes it especially well-suited for treating cancer of the lung and liver, two types that occur commonly in China," said Tom Duffy, head of Varian's Oncology Systems business in Asia.  "With its combination of advanced real-time imaging, High Intensity Mode, and gated RapidArc® for synchronizing treatment with tumor motion, it's an excellent device for delivering high-dose hypofractionated radiotherapy.  There is a growing body of research that indicates this is an especially effective way to treat liver and lung cancer."

Note: a high-resolution image is available in Varian's online newsroom, at this URL: http://varian.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=13&cat=35&mode=gallery.

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, proton therapy, 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 5,400 people who are located at manufacturing sites in North America, Europe, and China and approximately 70 sales and support offices around the world. The company's center in Beijing encompasses oncology equipment manufacturing operations, an educational center for radiotherapy clinical professionals, a customer service center, and X-ray Products assembly and service.  For more information, visit http://www.varian.com.

SOURCE Varian Medical Systems, Inc.