Varian Medical Systems Books $77 Million Order to Equip Proton Treatment Center in Saudi Arabia

PALO ALTO, California, January 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) today announced it has booked a $77 million order with Saudi Particle Therapy Centre LLC to equip a new proton therapy facility at the King Fahd Medical Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Varian will equip the new center with a ProBeam™ system for five treatment rooms as well as two TrueBeam™ medical linear accelerators. Equipment delivery and installation is expected to commence in spring 2013 and patient treatments are scheduled to begin in late 2014. The agreement will also include a multi-year service contract that should commence as the installation is completed.

"We are honored to have been selected to supply our equipment and software for this prestigious new facility, which will make life-saving proton therapy treatments available for the first time to cancer patients in this region," says Tim Guertin, Varian's chief executive officer. "This is an exciting step forward for our Varian Particle Therapy business."

Proton therapy makes it possible to treat certain types of cancer more precisely and with potentially fewer side effects than with conventional radiation therapy. With proton therapy, the risk of damage to healthy tissues is reduced. The method can be applied for many of the most common types of cancer and offers advantages when treating tumors close to radiosensitive tissues. In pediatric patients the risk of developing a new, radiation-induced cancer later in life can be reduced.

"We believe that more and more proton centers will want to employ the full suite of Varian products and technology for radiotherapy and radiosurgery as well as particle therapy for world-class cancer treatments," said Guertin.  "The combination of these technologies based on 60 years of innovation puts Varian in a unique position to help advance clinical care for patients around the world." 

Varian is currently installing and commissioning its ProBeam system at the Scripps Proton Center near San Diego.  The company has also been selected to provide equipment for new proton therapy centers at the University of Maryland and in Mestre, Italy.  It has been identified as the preferred provider for a new center at Emory University near Atlanta.

Editorial contact: Neil Madle, Varian Medical Systems, +44-7786-526068

About Varian Medical Systems
Varian Medical Systems, Inc., of Palo Alto, California, is the world's leading manufacturer of medical devices and software for treating cancer and other medical conditions with radiotherapy, radiosurgery, and brachytherapy. The company supplies informatics software for managing comprehensive cancer clinics, radiotherapy centers and medical oncology practices. Varian is a premier supplier of tubes and digital detectors for X-ray imaging in medical, scientific, and industrial applications and also supplies X-ray imaging products for cargo screening and industrial inspection. Varian Medical Systems employs approximately 5,700 people who are located at manufacturing sites in North America, Europe, and China and approximately 70 sales and support offices around the world. For more information, visit http://www.varian.com or follow us on Twitter.