Radiotherapy technology is one of the keys to overcome tumor diseases. In the third China International Import Expo (hereinafter referred to as the "Expo") medical equipment booth, the world's three leading radiotherapy equipment vendors: Medica, Varian, Masipu with a new generation of products all appear.
Among them, independent research and development of core technologies, focus on innovation and continuous iteration, and global oncology patient service are the same characteristics of the three major radiotherapy equipment vendors.
Helping to improve the 5-year survival rate of tumor patients
Currently, globally, about nearly 70% of tumor patients need different levels of radiation therapy. Official data released by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that 45% of malignant tumors are curable, with surgery accounting for 22%, radiotherapy 18%, and chemotherapy only 5%.
At the same time, the more economically developed the country, the higher the proportion of patients using radiotherapy, including the United States is 63%, Canada, Sweden, the Netherlands, Australia and other developed countries more than 40%, China, Russia, India, Vietnam and other countries below 20%.
In terms of data corresponding to one radiotherapy device per million population, the WTO standard is 2 to 4 units, the United States is 12 units, Japan is 7 units, European countries are 7 to 8 units, and China is currently 1.52 units, there is still a huge space to catch up.
"China's tumor incidence and number of people account for the world's first. Currently, the cure rate (5-year survival rate) of tumor patients in developed countries is 60%~70%, and this rate is only about 40% for Chinese tumor patients." Liu Jianbin, Senior Vice President of MediTech China, told reporters at the scene, "We believe that the 5-year survival rate of Chinese tumor patients is expected to increase to 46.6% by 2030."
Previously radiotherapy equipment needs to be approved by the national health department to configure the certificate, and is generally landed in university hospitals, hospitals in charge of the Ministry of Health and so on. However, in recent years, China is gradually in the liberalization of the policy management of large radiotherapy equipment, the end of 2018, this radiotherapy equipment configuration certificate has one after another began to be below the provincial level of the Health Commission.
From the data, China's existing market stock of gamma knife is more than 200 units. And the National Health Commission's "Notice on Adjusting the 2018-2020 Large Medical Equipment Configuration Planning" shows that by the end of 2020, China's gamma knife planning to add 188 units, linear gas pedal planning to add 1,451 units.
So how should China's radiotherapy equipment resources be allocated? "This means that it is necessary to allocate higher quality radiotherapy resources closer to the people." Liu Jianbin further suggested, "From an overall point of view, on the one hand, it is to further sink radiotherapy resources to county-level hospitals (county-level hospitals radiotherapy equipment allocation rate of 7%), on the other hand, we are actively allocating radiotherapy equipment to the six regional medical centers that are being promoted by the state."
The above regional medical centers will be equipped with what specific radiotherapy equipment? Liu Jianbin revealed, "Gamma Knife, linear gas pedal and other equipment will be stationed in the regional medical centers; we also judge that the future direction of the field of oncology is still the combination of magnetic **** vibration and linear gas pedal."
The reporter noted that MediTech launched Elekta Unity, the world's first high-field strength magnetic **** vibration radiotherapy system, on the first day of the Fair. "We spent 10 years solving the problem of combining magnetic **** vibration with gas pedals. The advantage of magnetic *** vibration is that it has almost no damage to the human body, and can see early tumors very clearly; then combined with radiotherapy linear gas pedal, it can be accurate radiation therapy, and improve efficiency." Liu Jianbin said.
"National products" to catch up, proton debut
At the site of the Expo, a 23-year background in the development of tumor radiotherapy technology, "national products", the Massive Life of Yingkang.
"Of the more than 200 units of radiotherapy equipment in China, our Masip Gamma Knife accounts for more than 80 units, with a global installed base of more than 100 units." The relevant person in charge of the Maxip of Yingkang Life told the reporter.
The reporter learned that Masip has 6 domestic patents and 3 U.S. patents, 37 software copyrights. It now has access to many major markets around the world and is the first to realize the independent export of large radiotherapy equipment.
"The ****similarity of the existing radiotherapy series products of Masip is the self-developed dynamic rotary focusing." The person in charge of technology research and development at Masip told reporters, "Dynamic rotational focusing makes the beam pass through a wider area; that is to say, during radiotherapy, the patient's tumor target area is subjected to sustained high-dose gamma radiation at the same time, the radiation received by its surrounding normal tissues is more dispersed, and the safety is greatly enhanced."
This is the core technology of tumor radiotherapy? The person in charge said, "Gamma Knife equipment has multiple protective functions (switch body, collimator, shielding door) can make it in radiotherapy, gamma rays through the pre-collimation, open channel valve hole and collimator, precise focus on the patient's tumor target area, reducing unnecessary radiation and damage to normal tissues."
The technical director further said, "With the guarantee of performance, we have streamlined the cobalt-60 radioactive sources to 30, which makes the selling price of the product, the price of maintenance and source replacement a clear advantage in the market."
It is reported that the selling price of Masip's second-generation Gamma Knife is 60% of similar imported products.
"Our Gamma Knife equipment is distributed in many countries such as Vietnam, Turkey, the United States, El Salvador, and Morocco. With the global demand for tumor patients elevated, partners in Africa, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Latin America and other regions have expressed a relatively strong intention to cooperate." The responsible person revealed.
Unlike the above two radiotherapy equipment vendors, the more segmented "proton therapy" field has become the strategic target of Varian, which brought the Asia-Pacific debut of the "ProBeam 360 single-compartment compact proton therapy system".
"Our proton therapy is accurate to the sub-millimeter level." Zhang Xiao, Senior Global Vice President and President of Greater China at Varian Medical, told reporters at the site, "That is to say, with proton flash therapy, the treatment time for tumor patients can be shortened from the original 25 sessions per course to 1~3 sessions per course."
What type of patients is this proton therapy model described above suitable for? Zhou Chuan, Sales Director of Proton Solutions at Varian Medical, told the reporter that the advantages of proton therapy are more obvious for some special groups, such as children, or patients with head and neck tumors.