8th November 2016
Proton Partners announces new research facility
Proton Partners International has announced that it will undertake a major genomics programme following the opening of its cancer treatment centres in the UK.
The company today signed a 10-year lease to establish a research centre at the Life Sciences Accelerator building in Liverpool which is due to open next year. The building is the first part of a ‘health campus’ that is set to surround the £335m new Royal Liverpool Hospital. The lease is with The Royal and Liverpool Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust.
The Proton Partners genomics programme will collate, analyse and distribute data from its treatment centres which will support its broader research work with the University of Liverpool’s Physics Department.
The company’s first proton beam therapy centre – and the first to be built in the UK – is under construction at Newport, Wales, and will be offering proton beam therapy treatment from next year. A second centre in Northumberland is also under construction and planning application has been submitted to build a third at Reading, Berkshire. Other centres are also under consideration.
Dr Steven Powell, Director of Liverpool Life Sciences Accelerator, said: “The Liverpool Life Sciences Accelerator brings the latest medical innovators to the city of Liverpool so that our patient population can benefit from their expertise. Proton Partners International is one of our first tenants and is set to make a big impact in healthcare.”
Mike Moran, Chief Executive of Proton Partners International, said: “We are delighted to be making this commitment to establish our research and data centre in what is going to be a flagship healthcare research building in the UK. From the outset, we have said that in addition to providing the most advanced proton beam therapy treatment available to both private and NHS patients we will support that with extensive research programmes that will add to the developing knowledge of proton treatment. This data will not only be useful for our purposes but we hope to share it with our clinical partners and stakeholders.”
Professor Karol Sikora, Medical Director of Proton Partners International, said: “The future of cancer treatment is about personalisation. Understanding the differences between cancer and normal cells in an individual increasingly requires detailed genomic knowledge. Together with advanced imaging technology this will help to decide the best possible way of delivering radiotherapy as well as chemotherapy. Optimising cancer treatment will require the in-depth study of large data sets from a huge number of patients. We are delighted to help Liverpool get to the forefront of the global endeavour in this fascinating area of research.”