American Shared Hospital invests $2 million in developer of proton beam

By Elaine Rigoli

Tampa, Fla., April 11 - American Shared Hospital Services has invested $2 million for an equity interest in Still River Systems, Inc.

Still River is working in collaboration with scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Plasma Science and Fusion Center to develop a medical device for the treatment of cancer patients using proton-beam radiation therapy (PBRT), according to a news release.

American Shared Hospital also paid $1 million for an option to acquire two Clinatron-250 PBRT systems from Still River for anticipated delivery in 2008.

"Proton-beam radiation therapy is widely regarded as the optimal radiation treatment for a wide variety of cancers because of its significant clinical advantages compared to conventional high energy X-rays," said chairman and chief executive officer Ernest A. Bates said in the release.

"Unfortunately, the PBRT systems available today cost at least $100 million, and consist of three or more dedicated treatment rooms. As a result, deployment of this Medicare-approved treatment modality has so far been limited to only a handful of large institutions. According to Still River Systems, the device it is developing is a single-treatment-room PBRT system incorporating proprietary technology that it believes may dramatically reduce the cost of implementing this exciting therapy."

Still River is a development-stage company based in Littleton, Mass.

Located in San Francisco, American Shared Hospital develops turnkey technology solutions for radio-surgical procedures.

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