James Boxley Cooke, from the Oxford Club, came with this pick recently:

Varian Medical has revenues of more than $800 million and net profits of over $100 million killing cancer tumors with a success rate as high as 96% using the new IMRT. Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy uses computer-generated images to plan and then deliver even more tightly focused radiation beams to cancerous tumors than is possible with conventional radiotherapy.

With this capability, clinicians can exquisitely "paint" a precise radiation dose (usually x-rays) to the shape and depth of the tumor, while significantly reducing the adverse effects of doses on healthy tissue. IMRT results in significantly better patient outcomes and with diseases such as prostate cancer there has been a 13 percent to 35 percent improved survival rate with a decrease in treatment side effects.

Dr. Patrick Swift, medical director at the Alta Bates Comprehensive Cancer Center in Berkeley, California says "a quarter or possibly a third of our cancer patient population will soon be undergoing this treatment." Dr. James Cox of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center says he intends to treat over 1,000 patients a year with this technology. And, he adds, "it is very much a part of our future." And Dr. Ted Lawrence, Professor of Oncology at the University of Michigan, says this breakthrough technology has opened up nothing less than "extraordinary possibilities."

VAR $61.74 on 10/24/2003