Accuray's Treatment Planning Service Active at 20 Percent of U.S. CyberKnife Centers

October 27, 2009 at 12:46 PM EDT
Service Offers Specialized Physicist Support to New and Existing CyberKnife Sites

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Oct. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Accuray Incorporated (Nasdaq: ARAY), a global leader in the field of radiosurgery, announced today that 20 percent of the company's U.S. installed base has signed on to utilize Accuray's Treatment Planning Service. This demonstrates a significant increase over the 10 percent of U.S. sites that had signed on as of February 2009.

Accuray's Treatment Planning Service is designed to help customers maximize utilization of their CyberKnife System. The service connects each center's physicist team to a group of remote medical physicists who specialize in CyberKnife radiosurgery treatment planning.

The Treatment Planning Service can serve as a supplement for centers that require additional support to meet growing patient volumes or fluctuations in staffing without adjusting their fixed costs. It also can help new customers gain confidence, share knowledge, and begin delivering more complex CyberKnife treatments faster by providing a pathway for collaboration with specialized medical physicists.

At CyberKnife of Birmingham, Accuray's Treatment Planning Service provided added capacity and support to the startup goals of this new site, which went live in May 2009. CyberKnife of Birmingham has been able to take on a broad spectrum of cases from their referring physician base while providing world class care to the Birmingham community.

"The Accuray Treatment Planning Service has been very helpful in providing us with remote tools and supplemental planning support in managing our patient volume," said Elizabeth Fourie, administrator for CyberKnife of Birmingham, in Birmingham, Alabama.

"Treatment planning by medical physicists is a core component in the workflow of CyberKnife radiosurgery treatment delivery," said Euan S. Thomson, Ph.D., president and CEO of Accuray Incorporated. "Because Accuray's Treatment Planning Service helps CyberKnife centers control costs and run their business more efficiently, it's catching on really quickly amongst our customer base."

Accuray recently entered into a multi-site agreement with Alliance Oncology, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alliance HealthCare Services (NYSE: AIQ), to facilitate access to Accuray's Treatment Planning Service at five of their CyberKnife Centers and leverage the remote toolset offered by the Service.

While the Treatment Planning Service is currently focused on U.S. CyberKnife Centers, the company will begin reaching out to international customers in 2010. To that end, Accuray has formalized the first international agreement with CyberClinic in Kiev, Ukraine.

"We are committed to delivering the highest standard of quality and care to the patients we serve. For this reason, we have partnered with Accuray's Treatment Planning Service to help us accomplish that goal," said Yuri Spizhenko, M.D., Ph.D., president of CyberClinic.

To schedule a demonstration of Accuray's Treatment Planning Service at the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting in Chicago, please visit www.accuraychicago.com.

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 70,000 patients worldwide and currently more than 176 systems have been installed in leading hospitals in the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit www.accuray.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

The foregoing may contain certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including uncertainties associated with the medical device industry. Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, including statements relating to benefits and use of services, qualifications of personnel, commercialization of products, clinical studies, and regulatory review and approval are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date the statements are made and are based on information available at the time those statements are made and/or management's good faith belief as of that time with respect to future events. You should not put undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual performance and results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements we make include: market acceptance of products; competing products, the combination of our products with complementary technology; and other risks detailed from time to time under the heading "Risk Factors" in our report on Form 10-K for our 2009 fiscal year and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company's actual results of operations may differ significantly from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements as a result of these and other factors. We assume 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.

Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click appropriate link.

Euan Thomson, Ph.D.

https://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=81869

Omar Dawood, M.D., MPH

https://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=85068

SOURCE Accuray Incorporated

Stephanie Tomei, Senior Manager, Public Relations of Accuray Incorporated, +1-408-789-4234, stomei@accuray.com; or Brianne Donahue of Schwartz Communications, +1-415-817-2545, accuray@schwartz-pr.com, for Accuray Incorporated