SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Accuray Incorporated (Nasdaq: ARAY), the premier radiation oncology company, announced today the signing of a multi-year master research and collaboration agreement with the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) a luminary research institution located in Heidelberg, Germany. Accuray and DKFZ will collaborate on cutting-edge research in radiation oncology to advance treatment technology and provide health care professionals with the most effective tools for treating patients.
"Accuray was a logical choice for us in selecting a research partner given our rich history of collaboration surrounding the CyberKnife System and the company's leadership in image guidance and motion management," said Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schlegel, Head of the Department of Medical Physics, German Cancer Research Center. "We look forward to expanding our collaborations with Accuray through the signing of this master agreement."
Accuray will now be collaborating with two of the top luminary research institutions located in Heidelberg, DKFZ and the University of Heidelberg, per an agreement signed with the University of Heidelberg in March 2012. The three entities will now collaborate to advance the field of radiation oncology through research and clinical practice.
"These agreements with DKFZ and University of Heidelberg, focused on both the CyberKnife and TomoTherapy technologies, enable us to continue the important collaborative research in radiation oncology that has been underway for nearly a decade," said Euan S. Thomson, Ph.D., Accuray president and chief executive officer. "We look forward to our new partnership with DKFZ so that together we can create a future where the fear, pain and suffering of cancer are a thing of the past."
Since 2004, Accuray has entered into a number of project-specific research collaborations with DKFZ, including the co-development of the Iris™ Variable Aperture Collimator, an adjustable beam-shaping device developed to enable multiple changes in collimator size for the CyberKnife® Robotic Radiosurgery System. The Iris Collimator enables more conformal treatments, less total dose (Monitor Units) to the patient and has allowed CyberKnife treatment times to be cut by as much as half.
The research collaboration surrounding TomoTherapy® technology is longstanding as well, including exploration of new treatment options with helical TomoTherapy and associated journal publications about advanced use of helical TomoTherapy. The University of Heidelberg was the first TomoTherapy installation in Germany in 2006. A second TomoTherapy System was installed in 2010. Together these systems – a TomoHD™ and a TomoTherapy Hi-Art® – treat approximately 700 patients per year, representing 70 percent of the approximately 1,000 patients treated by intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) at the hospital each year, and 20 percent of the approximately 3,500 patients treated by their Radiation Oncology department each year.
About The German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ)
The German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) with its more than 2,500 employees is the largest biomedical research institute in Germany. At DKFZ, more than 1,000 scientists investigate how cancer develops, identify cancer risk factors and endeavor to find new strategies to prevent people from getting cancer. They develop novel approaches to make tumor diagnosis more precise and treatment of cancer patients more successful. Jointly with Heidelberg University Hospital, DKFZ has established the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg where promising approaches from cancer research are translated into the clinic. http://www.dkfz.de.
About Accuray
Accuray Incorporated (Nasdaq: ARAY), based in Sunnyvale, Calif., is the premier radiation oncology company that develops, manufactures and sells personalized innovative treatment solutions that set the standard of care, with the aim of helping patients live longer, better lives. The Company's leading edge technologies – the CyberKnife and TomoTherapy Systems – are designed to deliver radiosurgery, stereotactic body radiation therapy, intensity modulated radiation therapy, image guided radiation therapy, and adaptive radiation therapy. To date 635 systems have been installed in leading hospitals around the world. For more information, please visit www.accuray.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
Statements made in this press release that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements and are subject to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements in this press release relate, but are not limited, to the anticipated benefits of the DKFZ master research agreement, the Company's ability to continue to enhance the performance of TomoTherapy Systems, and the Company's leadership position in radiation oncology innovation. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations, including risks detailed from time to time under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's reports Form 10-Q for the first, second and third quarters of fiscal 2012. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date the statements are made and are based on information available to the Company at the time those statements are made and/or management's good faith belief as of that time with respect to future events. 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, except to the extent required by applicable securities laws. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements.
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Euan S. Thomson, Ph.D.
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SOURCE Accuray Incorporated
Rebecca Phillips, Public Relations Manager, Accuray, +1-408-716-4773, rphillips@accuray.com, or Dr. Stefanie Seltmann, Head of Press and Public Relations, German Cancer Research Center, +49 6221 42 2854, S.Seltmann@dkfz.de
