Varian Medical Systems Signs Purchase Agreement with Advanced Particle Therapy LLC to Supply Technology for the Georgia Proton Treatment Center to be operated by Emory Healthcare

PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) and Advanced Particle Therapy LLC (APT) and its Special Purpose Company, Georgia Proton Treatment Center, LLC today announced that they have signed an agreement by which Varian will provide its ProBeam system for the Georgia Proton Treatment Center, slated to be built in midtown Atlanta. The Center will be operated by Emory Healthcare.

The supply agreement, valued at $83 million, covers technology for a five-room treatment center.  APT is serving as developer for the $200 million project, through The Georgia Proton Treatment Center, LLC, a special purpose entity that was set up to design, build, equip, and own the treatment center.  Emory Healthcare faculty and staff will provide physician services, medical direction, and other administrative services to the center. 

This is the third proton therapy center project that Varian is undertaking in conjunction with APT.  Varian and APT are also currently commissioning a ProBeam system at the Scripps Proton Therapy Center in San Diego, California, and collaborating on the development of a proton therapy center at the University of Maryland.

"Varian is delighted to be undertaking another project with APT, a company whose management team has deep experience in management, finance, medical device business development, nuclear engineering, and particle therapy operations," said Moataz Karmalawy, general manager of Varian's Particle Therapy business.  "It's especially gratifying to be working with APT on a system that will be operated by Emory Healthcare, as Varian has a long history of working with the Emory Radiation Oncology Department, where our most advanced systems for external beam photon radiotherapy have been used to treat cancer patients for more than a decade."

"Proton therapy involves the use of a controlled beam of protons to target tumors with higher levels of precision than is possible with other forms of radiation therapy, potentially limiting damage to healthy surrounding tissue and reducing the side effects of treatment," says Walter J. Curran, Jr., MD, Executive Director of the Winship Cancer Institute and Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Emory University School of Medicine.   "We are enthusiastic about the prospect of operating the first proton therapy facility in the State of Georgia—one of only nine in the U.S.—as well as the opportunity to work on collaborative research projects with other institutions establishing best practices for the use of proton therapy to treat cancer."

Varian will provide the Georgia Proton Treatment Center with the company's ProBeam system, which provides pencil beam scanning on a rotational gantry, and includes integrated imaging, robotic patient positioning and software for treatment planning and information management.

Varian's ProBeam system gives clinicians many options for delivering dose precisely in order to minimize dose to healthy tissue in the course of delivering treatments.  The scanning beam technology enables intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) by modulating dose levels on a spot-by-spot basis throughout the treatment area. Irradiations from multiple angles are combined in an optimal manner to improve control of dose distributions. Scanning beam technology also eliminates the time-consuming need to manually insert separate shaping accessories for each beam angle in order to match the beam to the shape of the tumor.

Varian expects to book an order in connection with this project when financing is completed.  In the meantime, it has received a down payment for the equipment and has commenced work on the project.

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About APT

Advanced Particle Therapy (APT) develops and manages premier proton therapy centers to deliver exceptional cancer treatment to patients. APT provides a fully integrated solution for development of proton treatment centers for leading academic medical institutions as well as best in class regional healthcare systems. APT serves as the project's developer and provides a turnkey solution to the highly complex task of successfully developing, designing, constructing, overseeing and managing a particle therapy treatment center.   For more information about Advanced Particle Therapy, visit www.advancedparticletherapy.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, digital detectors, and image processing workstations for X-ray imaging in medical, scientific, and industrial applications and also supplies high-energy X-ray devices for cargo screening and non-destructive testing applications.  Varian Medical Systems employs approximately 6,100 people who are located at manufacturing sites in North America, Europe, and China and approximately 70 sales and support offices around the world. For more information, visit 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 possible actions or outcomes in the future, and any statements using the words or phrases: "will," "plans to," "anticipate," "could," and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and are generally beyond our control, and could cause results to differ materially from those anticipated.  Such risks and uncertainties include risks associated with a negative finding as to the effectiveness of or outcomes associated with radiosurgery versus surgery, and other risks described from time to time in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which by this reference are incorporated herein.  We undertake no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements in this release because of new information, future events or otherwise.

FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:

Varian Medical Systems
Meryl Ginsberg, 650.424.6444
[email protected]

Advanced Particle Therapy
Shelley Callahan, 858.875.2260
[email protected]

SOURCE Varian Medical Systems