Mevion Medical Systems has announced that the company has signed a cooperation agreement with Shanghai Fudan University Pediatric Hospital and Shanghai Fosun Medical (Group) Co, Ltd. to jointly build China's first paediatric proton therapy centre. According to the agreement, the three parties will cooperate on the development, clinical services, training and research activities of the proton therapy centre.

Proton therapy is an advanced form of radiotherapy that can reduce unnecessary radiation doses received by healthy tissues and prevent complications and secondary cancers. These advantages are especially beneficial to childhood cancer patients, because children's bodies are still growing and developing and are more susceptible to these adverse events.

Tina Yu, CEO, Mevion Medical Systems, said, “This tripartite cooperation is an important milestone for both Mevion and Chinese paediatric patients. By providing the first paediatric hospital in China with the opportunity to directly use proton therapy, we will work together Open a new era of patient treatment, so that children and their families can benefit from our life-changing technology. We are proud to continue to fulfil our mission to make proton therapy available everywhere in the world.”

Also attending the signing ceremony were Grace Eline, a 12-year-old cancer survivor who had received proton therapy at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospitals Laurie Proton Therapy Center, and the Barnes-Jewish Hospital of Washington University in St Louis, Missouri. (Barnes-Jewish Hospital) Stephanie Perkins, MD, Director, Kling Proton Therapy Center, Siteman Cancer Treatment Center. Both guests emphasised that there is an urgent need to increase the chances of paediatric population receiving proton therapy.

The newly constructed proton therapy centre will be located in the New Hongqiao Branch of the Children's Hospital of Fudan University (Shanghai Xingchen Children's Hospital). The paediatric hospital affiliated to Fudan University was founded in 1952 and is one of the top children's hospitals in China. It is in a leading position in clinical services, teaching and scientific research.