Development Agreement Initiated for Radiation Therapy Cancer Treatment

(Seattle, WA, USA), a developer of real-time localization technology used for the precise tracking of tumors, and Elekta (Stockholm, Sweden), a manufacturer of medical devices and software for treating cancer, announced a master development agreement to jointly develop products integrating the Calypso system with Elekta's radiotherapy treatment technologies.

"Integrating the Calypso system into Elekta's world-class radiotherapy technologies may facilitate the development of innovative treatment modalities for treating prostate cancer along with more problematic radiation therapy targets, such as the pancreas and lung," said Edward Vertatschitsch, PhD, president and chief executive officer of Calypso Medical. "Near term development efforts include creating connectivity between the linear accelerator and the Calypso system for patient positioning during radiation delivery, which automates the process of repositioning the treatment couch when the tumor moves out of a prescribed motion threshold. This agreement will also provide the framework for the potential development of real-time automated correction, a future capability with feasibility work already in progress at both companies, which enables motion management with the tumor target based on real-time tracking data provided by the Calypso system."

"Clinicians around the world, including The Royal Marsden in London [UK], the world's first medical center dedicated to cancer treatment, are utilizing the Calypso system with our linear accelerators to optimize treatment for prostate cancer patients," said Jill Stief, director, product management, oncology systems at Elekta. "Effectively accounting for tumor motion may lead to improved treatment outcomes and patient quality-of-life."

The Calypso system is complementary to Elekta's sophisticated technology for delivering intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), including Elekta Synergy and Precise linear accelerators. As one of the world's leading suppliers of linear accelerators and oncology software solutions, Elekta is committed to providing clinicians with open-systems connectivity to integrate third-party technologies. "In addition to Elekta's existing initiatives for localization and motion management, this agreement will allow us to leverage synergies in our respective technologies," added Ms. Stief.

"Adapting treatment for tumor motion is vitally important in maximizing the therapeutic value of radiotherapy while minimizing side effects," said Seth Rosenthal, MD, a radiation oncologist at Radiological Associates of Sacramento (Sacramento, CA, USA). "The complementary nature of Calypso's real-time tracking technology and Elekta's highly efficient linear accelerator has improved our ability to detect prostate motion and more accurately deliver radiation."

The objective of external beam radiation therapy is to focus the radiation beam on the tumor while avoiding the irradiation of surrounding healthy tissue. However, internal organ motion may cause the radiation to miss its intended target. The Calypso system, with its global positioning system (GPS) for the Body technology, utilizes miniature implanted Beacon transponders to provide precise, continuous information on the location of the tumor in real-time during external beam radiation therapy. In contrast to other tumor targeting solutions, the Calypso system provides tumor position information objectively and without ionizing radiation, thereby enabling an increase in the radiation delivered to the tumor while reducing radiation misapplied to normal tissue. The Calypso system is installed in more than 100 leading medical centers worldwide.

A May 2010 study published in the journal Urology [Assessing the Impact of Margin Reduction (AIM)], demonstrated that patients whose radiation delivery was guided by the Calypso system experienced a significant decrease in the side effects compared to patients whose radiation treatment did not include Calypso.

Related Links:
Calypso Medical Technologies
Elekta