85 Percent of CyberKnife® Sites Within Europe Performing Prostate Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT)

May 11, 2011 at 5:51 PM EDT
This Recognition of Clinical Benefits Across Europe is Supported by Five-Year Outcomes for Low-Risk Prostate Cancer Patients Treated in Five Sessions

SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 11, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ --

Accuray Incorporated (Nasdaq: ARAY), a global leader in the field of radiosurgery, announced today that 85 percent of European CyberKnife® centers are performing prostate SBRT to treat localized prostate cancer. There is an increasing trend towards treating prostate cancer patients with a hypofractionated regimen.

"More than 25 percent of our CyberKnife patients are being treated for prostate cancer with further growth anticipated," said Dr David Feltl, Head of the Oncology department, Ostrava University Hospital, Ostrava, Czech Republic.

At the Annual Congress of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO) in London, UK this growth was supported by strong clinical evidence presented at a symposium focused on prostate cancer co-chaired by Prof. Eric Lartigau, Centre Oscar Lambret, Lille, France, and Prof. Volker Budach, M.D., Ph.D., Charite - Universitatsmedizin Berlin, Germany.

"Offering CyberKnife non-invasive treatments to our patients provides excellent 5-year tumor control and very low level of toxicity as recently published in Radiation Oncology 2011," said Prof. Eric Lartigau.

"There is a strong academic interest to further drive prospective randomized clinical evidence for prostate SBRT with the CyberKnife System leading the clinical trend," said Prof. Volker Budach.

"The long term efficacy and toxicity outcomes of single and multi-center studies are supported by many key publications and presentations on CyberKnife prostate SBRT. Supported by an increasing foundation of solid clinical evidence we have seen a 20 percent increase in worldwide prostate cancer treatment as compared to a similar period last year," said Omar Dawood, vice president, Medical Affairs, Accuray Incorporated.

About the CyberKnife® Robotic Radiosurgery System

The CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System is the world's only robotic radiosurgery system designed to treat tumors anywhere in the body non-invasively. Using continual image guidance technology and computer controlled robotic mobility, the CyberKnife System automatically tracks, detects and corrects for tumor and patient movement in real-time throughout the treatment. This enables the CyberKnife System to deliver high-dose radiation with pinpoint precision, which minimizes damage to surrounding healthy tissue and eliminates the need for invasive head or body stabilization frames.

About Accuray

Accuray Incorporated (Nasdaq: ARAY), based in Sunnyvale, Calif., is a global leader in the field of radiosurgery dedicated to providing an improved quality of life and a non-surgical treatment option for those diagnosed with cancer. Accuray develops and markets the CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System, which extends the benefits of radiosurgery to include extracranial tumors, including those in the spine, lung, prostate, liver and pancreas. To date, the CyberKnife System has been used to treat more than 100,000 patients worldwide and currently more than 226 systems have been installed in leading hospitals in the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit www.accuray.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including those concerning Accuray's expectations about revenue for fiscal year 2011, the portion of revenue attributable to CyberKnife System revenue, gross margin, profitability, customer installation schedules, realization of backlog and service activity. Forward looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may lead to actual results varying materially from the forward looking statements. Accordingly, investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements. Many factors could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from these forward looking statements, including, but not limited to the uncertainties associated with the medical device industry; variability of installation and sales cycle including customer financing and construction delays; changes in the regulatory environment, including reimbursement for CyberKnife procedures; market acceptance of products; and the impact of competition. These and other risks are discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in our report on Form 10-K for the 2010 fiscal year which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as updated in our Form 10-Q to be filed on or before May 10, 2011. The Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual performance or results, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting forward-looking information.

SOURCE Accuray Incorporated