Elekta (EKTA-B.ST) announced today that its latest solution for proton therapy, Monaco?* treatment planning for protons, has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Monaco brings robust functionality for proton therapy, featuring fast optimization and calculation via the Monte Carlo algorithm and user-configurable templates for different body sites to enable rapid proton plan creation. Monaco is a component of Elekta's Treatment Management Solution, which provides a full-featured environment for delivering proton therapy.

"Adding new technology to a department can be a complex task, and especially so for a highly advanced technique like proton therapy," says Maurits Wolleswinkel, President Linac Solutions. "In partnership with IBA, however, Elekta's Treatment Management solution, which includes Monaco, ProKnow and MOSAIQ Plaza digital tools - including MOSAIQ Oncology Information System - provides the ideal ecosystem to integrate proton therapy, helping centers expand their capabilities to choose the best care for their patients."

Elekta was among the first companies to support proton therapy with treatment planning and oncology information systems. The company has built on this proven history to bring high quality planning, combined with intelligent, automated oncology workflows.

The partnership with IBA, a world leader in proton therapy, provides a very strong foundation with an unmatched track record of over 100,000 patients treated by IBA's clinical partners.

"We are excited to continue expanding our successful partnership with Elekta. As proton therapy becomes an essential treatment modality for an increasing number of indications, it is critical to seamlessly integrate our solutions into the clinic and optimize workflows. Thanks to the joint in-house expertise of Elekta and IBA, and leveraging on the largest and most knowledgeable community of clinical partners in Proton Therapy, IBA is ideally positioned to complement Elekta's integrated software solutions," says Jeroen Cammeraat, Chief Commercial Officer at IBA.

"Our ecosystem of digital tools will not only simplify and automate the oncology department, but will also enable clinicians to continuously improve, treat more patients and reduce operational costs," Wolleswinkel says.

By harnessing Elekta's oncology informatics infrastructure, users can benefit from department-wide integration and standardized workflows. All radiotherapy machines, including linear accelerators and proton systems, will be connected, thus optimizing efficiency. This infrastructure also gives clinicians powerful analytics tools to go beyond standard efficiency improvements, using the wealth of data that the department generates to pinpoint improvements within processes. Overall, this contributes to higher productivity and cost reduction, and enables value-based healthcare.

Elekta and IBA have been collaborating for the last 20 years to help oncology centers integrate the cancer treatment modality into their patient care environment.