Littleton Tech Firm Secures VC Confidence
A Littleton company hopes to bring less invasive cancer treatments to more patients by developing a smaller, less expensive proton radiation device. And they've landed venture capital in a dry market to get there.
Still River Systems of Littleton raised $33 million this spring. Venrock Associates, based in California, and New York-based Caxton Health and Life Sciences, a previous investor, along with CHL Medical Partners of Stamford, Conn. provided the capital.
"What is attractive about Still River Systems to us was that first of all we think they will have a product onto the market that will really help patients," said Dr. Myles Greenberg, a partner in CHL Medical Partners.
Cost Of Progress
In the United States, there are only a handful of proton radiation systems, sometimes known as cyclotrons. They are physically huge and very expensive, running between $150 and $200 million, according to Lionel Bouchet, the director of product marketing for Still River Systems Inc.
Here in New England, the closest large proton therapy system is at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital. There are five others in the country: in California, Florida, Indiana, Texas and Oklahoma. There are another four under construction: one each in Pennsylvania and Virginia, and two in Illinois.
Still River's system is different because it will be between 1,600 and 2,000 square feet and cost about $25 million, according to Bouchet. It can be smaller because it uses a new superconducting material in smaller, powerful magnets that energize the protons, Bouchet said.
The system was developed in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Plasma Science and Fusion Center.
There is less damage to healthy tissues with proton radiation therapy than with traditional radiation therapy because it is more precise, Bouchet said. Its therapy can be targeted directly at a cancer. Proton therapy is much preferred for treating children due to its lack of side effects and because children are still developing, Bouchet added.
The first Still River Systems model will be installed at the Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Mo., which is affiliated with Washington University. And the company's regulatory affairs group is working to get approval for the system from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
About 1.5 million cancer patients will be diagnosed this year in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. Half of that number, about 750,000 people, will likely receive radiation treatment, Greenberg said. Many of that group could be better treated with proton therapy, he said.
But Still River Systems is not alone in its pursuit of a smaller, less expensive proton therapy system.
Two other companies are working on developing compact proton therapy devices: One in California, in partnership with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and a second one developed in Russia at the Lebedev Physics Institute in Moscow, Bouchet said. Neither of those systems has been approved by the FDA.
But the important thing is to make sure proton therapy can be offered to more patients, said Greenberg.
"With the superconducting magnet, Still River Systems' proton therapy system is far less expensive to build and maintain, and that will allow proton therapy systems to be deployed to many more hospitals and health care centers," Greenberg said.
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