ELEKTA LAUNCHES NEW LINEAR ACCELERATOR AT 2007 ESTRO TO EXPAND CANCER TREATMENT AVAILABILITY

PRESS RELEASE
Stockholm, Sweden, September 10, 2007

Elekta today unveiled a new member of the Elekta family of linear accelerators at the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO) 2007 meeting. At an unveiling ceremony in the Elekta booth, Elekta President & CEO Tomas Puusepp announced the launch of Elekta Compact™, a new addition to Elekta’s product line of linear accelerators that offers an easy to implement, more affordable solution for radiation therapy.

Elekta Compact was purposefully designed with a single low-energy photon beam and a small footprint specifically, so it is ideally positioned for use in a small treatment room and in specialized markets. Its efficient design makes it more accessible to a wider range of health care providers who want to give their patients the optimal care in radiation therapy. “Elekta is committed to fighting cancer and enhancing patients’ quality of life,” says Tomas Puusepp. “With the addition of Elekta Compact to our product portfolio, Elekta can offer linear accelerator systems across the full spectrum of price and performance specifications. This is an important launch for Elekta, since Elekta Compact opens up a new market for us. I believe that this system will significantly contribute to our continued growth and further strengthen our position in countries such as China and India”, ends Puusepp.

Smaller footprint targets untapped markets

In rooms that previously contained a Cobalt unit, or a treatment room with limited space, Elekta Compact may be an appropriate first step. “For former Cobalt users who want a simple linear accelerator as a ‘workhorse’ in providing cancer treatment with fewer complications, Elekta Compact can fill a treatment room that might otherwise lay empty,” says Olof Sandén, Executive Vice President Region Europe at Elekta.

Elekta Compact was designed and positioned to give all customers access to this exceptional product. “We haven’t forgotten that there’s a need for appropriate products to meet all customers’ needs,” says Russ Cox, Manager of Oncology Product Management and Senior Product Manager of Precision Radiation Therapy Systems at Elekta. “For countries needing to rapidly increase treatment capacity and those countries where Cobalt replacements are becoming more common, this is an ideal machine.”

Elekta Compact users will have access to electronic treatment records and sophisticated information management systems to help streamline workflow. “Elekta Compact begins as a simple point-and-shoot precision radiation treatment system,” says Cox, “and we make available an interface to allow the output of treatment parameters to external record-and-verify systems such as the MOSAIQ™ system provided by Elekta.”

Elekta Compact upgradeable to higher-end product

Elekta Compact has various upgrade paths to a higher-value product. “A mini multi-leaf collimator from Elekta can be mounted along with associated small field cones for stereotactic radiotherapy and radiosurgery,” explains Cox. In addition, the user can start with an Elekta Precise standard tabletop and upgrade to all forms of carbon fiber tabletops based on the customer’s individual clinical needs.

In keeping with Elekta’s ESTRO theme, “Moving forward together,” Elekta is showcasing the entire Elekta family of products and services, including Elekta’s flagship products together with integrated product innovations from all Elekta companies.


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