Varian partners with Icon Group to advance patient-centric solutions

Bringing clinical insights into early product development

PALO ALTO, Calif. and SYDNEY, April 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Varian, a Siemens Healthineers company (Varian), today announced a five-year research and professional services agreement with Icon Group (Icon). Through this agreement, Icon will participate in clinical and technical research programs, product evaluation projects, and clinical consultations with Varian to offer Icon's clinical expertise and industry perspectives throughout product development.

Headquartered in Brisbane, Australia, Icon is one of the largest cancer care network providers in Asia Pacific, with over 2.5 million patient interactions annually. The strategic partnership enables business leaders across Varian, Siemens Healthineers, and Icon to collaborate on new learnings and techniques in radiation therapy to advance patient-centric solutions and accelerate the development of market-ready products.

Mark Middleton, Icon Group Chief Executive Officer, said, "We are proud to have a long-standing global relationship with Varian, which shares the same mission and patient-centric approach to cancer care. Through this five-year partnership, we look forward to once again supporting Varian's world-class team in developing products and services that have the potential to efficiently deliver more advanced care to even more patients in more regions across the world."

Kevin O'Reilly, President of Radiation Oncology Solutions at Varian, said, "Timely care is critical to improving outcomes for patients, and this partnership with Icon builds on our efforts to reduce the time that elapses between a cancer diagnosis and treatment. Together with Icon, we can evaluate how new products can integrate into existing systems and continuously improve our technology services, all with a focus on enhancing the patient experience."

Building on the agreement between the two companies^[1] in April 2021 to install Varian linear accelerators across Australia and Asia, Varian and Icon will conduct clinical and technical research evaluating the hardware and software systems involved in diagnostics, treatment planning, and radiation therapy for cancer patients. The companies' research will also be published and used to advance broader industry-wide education efforts, including training programs to support healthcare providers using radiation therapy.

The first project between the two organizations will focus on the use of Artificial Intelligence in contouring to reduce the time it takes to plan radiation therapy treatment. Contouring involves outlining the tumor and nearby organs to deliver precise radiation therapy to the tumor site and avoid healthy tissue. AI contouring enables high quality Organs at Risk (OAR) contouring and standardization with AI-powered algorithms. This is designed to help simplify the radiotherapy planning workflow and potentially allow healthcare providers to spend time on other tasks.

This project will be one of many throughout the five-year partnership through which both companies will conduct cutting edge research to advance the future of radiation oncology and reduce the global cancer burden.

About Icon Group

Icon Group is one of Asia Pacific's largest comprehensive cancer care providers. The Group has expanded globally into Singapore, Mainland China, Hong Kong and New Zealand and has a strong history of cancer research, now operating the largest private cancer clinical trials program in Australia. Icon Group has 50 cancer centres with several currently in development, including day oncology hospitals, radiation oncology facilities and comprehensive centres that bring both oncology disciplines together.

The Group also encompasses Epic and Slade Pharmacy: providers of medication management and pharmacy services to the hospital, oncology and aged care sectors; and Slade Health: one of Australia's largest chemotherapy compounders with three TGA-approved manufacturing sites across the eastern seaboard and one set-to open in Auckland, New Zealand by mid-2022. For more information visit www.icongroup.global and follow Icon Group on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/icon-group^[2]

About Varian

At Varian, a Siemens Healthineers company, we envision a world without fear of cancer. For more than 70 years, we have developed, built, and delivered innovative cancer care technologies and solutions for our clinical partners around the globe to help them treat millions of patients each year. We are working to harness advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics to enhance cancer treatment and expand access to care. Our 11,000 employees across 70 locations keep the patient and our clinical partners at the center of our thinking as we power new victories in cancer care. Because, for cancer patients everywhere, their fight is our fight. For more information, visit http://www.varian.com^[3] and follow @VarianMedSys on Twitter.

Press ContactsVarian: Tom.Harding@Varian.com^[4] Icon Group: jenny.hansen@icongroup.global^[5]   

Investor Relations ContactSiemens Healthineers Investor Relations^[6] 

References

1. ^{^} agreement between the two companies (c212.net)
2. ^{^} https://www.linkedin.com/company/icon-group (c212.net)
3. ^{^} http://www.varian.com (www.varian.com)
4. ^{^} Tom.Harding@Varian.com (www.prnasia.com)
5. ^{^} jenny.hansen@icongroup.global (www.prnasia.com)
6. ^{^} Siemens Healthineers Investor Relations (c212.net)