00:00Today on Forbes, how a high-tech chair could revolutionize cancer radiation therapy.
00:08For decades, Stanford Healthcare has been trying to install a state-of-the-art proton
00:12therapy machine to add to its array of high-tech cancer treatments.
00:17But try as it might, it just couldn't find a place to put one.
00:21Proton therapy machines, which deliver targeted radiation to cancerous tumors, are massive
00:27contraptions.
00:28They typically need a facility the size of a three-story football field to accommodate
00:32them, and build-out costs are similarly gargantuan—between $50 million and $100 million.
00:41Even for a prestigious institution like Stanford, the hurdles to installation were daunting,
00:46particularly given Palo Alto's pricey real estate and lack of space for such construction.
00:52Stanford professor of radiation oncology, Dr. Billy Liu, told Forbes,
00:57The closest that we came was several years ago, when we worked out an arrangement with
01:01the Palo Alto VA hospital that is close to us.
01:04The approvals went all the way up to the top of the VA administration in Washington.
01:09But as the project proceeded month by month, the cost estimates escalated.
01:12It became totally infeasible.
01:15Three years ago, Stanford found an alternative.
01:19Startup Leo Cancer Care had developed a variation on the standard proton therapy machine design.
01:26Instead of rotating the radiation beam around a patient lying flat in a bed, it designed a
01:31chair in which a seated patient rotated around the beam.
01:35That seemingly simple change had transformative consequences.
01:40It helped trim the space required to about 1,700 square feet from the more than 29,000 square
01:46feet, a more than 90% reduction.
01:49That made it significantly less expensive and easier to fit where they wanted it, even with
01:54the extensive radiation shielding proton therapy machines require.
01:59Stanford teamed up Leo Cancer Care, which makes the chair and imaging technology, with Mevion
02:04Medical Systems, which had developed a small proton accelerator, and in 2024, they started
02:10building out the new facility.
02:12Dr. Liu hopes that its use will help Stanford's doctors treat cancers more effectively with fewer
02:17risks.
02:18Liu said, quote,
02:20The concept is very simple, but the implementation is quite sophisticated.
02:24It has a huge impact.
02:27It's still early days for Leo Cancer Care, and this is a hard and capital-intensive business.
02:33But the West Sussex UK and Middleton Wisconsin-based company, which has raised a total of $150 million
02:39at a valuation of $280 million, including a recent $40 million round led by Catalio Capital
02:46Management, is gaining traction.
02:49Revenue reached $11 million last year and is expected to more than double this year.
02:54Major hospitals and health systems began signing deals for Leo's flagship product, called
02:59Marie, after Nobel laureate Marie Curie, that combines an upright patient positioning system
03:05and a CT scanner, even before it received FDA clearance for it in July.
03:10It works in partnership with Beam delivery systems supplied by Mevion, Sumitomo, Itachi,
03:16and others.
03:18The company now counts Mayo Clinic, BayCare in Florida, and proton therapy pioneer Loma Linda
03:23University Health among its customers.
03:27And it now has an $85 million backlog of orders, according to what co-founder and CEO Steven Tao
03:33told Forbes.
03:35Tao hopes to reach $200 million in revenue within three or four years, and said that Leo is
03:40quote, actively pursuing an IPO, perhaps as early as late 2026, depending on market conditions.
03:48The number of proton therapy machines in use today is tiny.
03:52Only 46 proton centers in the US today, and just over 100 worldwide, Tao said, while the global
03:59need for them is closer to 2,000.
04:02Proton therapy provides greater targeting and cancer treatment, allowing patients to receive
04:07effective therapy with less damage to normal tissue and lower radiation risk, but its cost
04:13has been prohibitive.
04:15Fixed beam systems like Leo's cost between $17 million and $22 million versus $30 million
04:22or more for the traditional setup, Tao said.
04:25But the bigger cost savings come from the build-out.
04:28Leo's chair with a smaller accelerator can fit into a large room on a single floor.
04:33They don't need three stories to accommodate them.
04:36He figures that the average cost savings all-in is around $35 million to $40 million, and in
04:42some cases, closer to $70 million.
04:47For full coverage, check out Amy Feldman's piece on Forbes.com.
04:52This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes, thanks for tuning in.
Comments