Periodic Reporting for period 3 - HIL PT System (A revolutionary, cost effective, ultra-compact proton therapy system for cancer treatment)
Berichtszeitraum: 2020-10-01 bis 2021-09-30
Proton beam therapy can help over one million cancer patients every year globally – yet only 20,000 receive it; that’s less than 5%. Protons are arguably the most advanced form of radiation therapy – yet there are only 69 proton-therapy centers worldwide; compare with over 10,000 ( traditional X-Ray/Gamma) radiation therapy machines.
The main barrier to widespread adoption is the large size (football stadium) and high cost (€150-250M) of building and operating a center. Single-room solutions have been introduced to the market in recent years – yet, at €30-40M per room, they remain prohibitively expensive for the vast majority of hospitals and clinics. The key to making protons available to every patient is a scalable, add-on, single-room solution, at less than half the current price tag; all while maintaining very high beam quality and providing cutting-edge clinical capabilities such as PBS, IMPT, and more. HIL’s technological breakthrough promises to bring about this revolution.
HIL is applying a novel approach to particle acceleration – based on Nobel-Prize-winning high-intensity lasers and nanotech targets. The technology was conceived and incubated at the high-energy physics lab of the Hebrew university in Jerusalem, and further developed by HIL’s outstanding team of world-renowned scientists. Additionally, HIL is developing ultra-compact beam delivery solutions – namely beamlines and rotating gantries – taking advantage of the unique properties of laser-accelerated proton beams. Thus we deliver further reductions in size, cost and complexity of a complete system. Reduced shielding requirements also contribute to substantial reduction in facility footprint and building costs (which today account for over 25% of total facility price tag). These technological breakthroughs aim to enable – for the first time – cost-effective, expandable, add-on single-room solutions, while providing state-of-the-art clinical capabilities such as 360-degree rotation, pencil-beam scanning, etc.
Within the project, HIL aims to further advance the development of its innovative Proton Therapy solutions, towards commercialization.