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Research Grants
Mevion Medical Systems is a leading manufacturer of compact proton therapy for the treatment of cancer. To help further our mission to provide superior proton therapy to as many cancer patients as possible, we have established investigator-initiated research funding to projects that align with our future technology development and business strategy.
Research furthering clinical evidence of the benefits of proton therapy and investigations that provide new and cutting edge products and features are encouraged to apply.
Applications are accepted throughout the year. Please review the guidelines below prior to submitting any request and please contact Mevion with any questions.
PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION
The application for a Research Grant is to be prepared by the principal or senior investigator of the research. If the investigator is not a faculty or senior member their supervisor should be included. Please submit to Mevion Medical Systems care of:
Ying Xiong
Vice President, Product Management
300 Foster Street
Littleton, MA 01460
The application must be presented on the letterhead of the sponsoring or supervising institution.
The header information should identify the institutional office responsible for the administration of such grants and the administrative contact person, address and email.
The header should also present a concise working title for each grant.
The body should clearly define and present:
- The strategic goal of the research.
- An executive summary stating the clinical relevance and history, the unique competency of the applicants, the institutions interest in the work, and the relevance to Mevion and/or users of proton therapy.
- A description of the proposed work in enough detail to distinguish it from competitive proposals already published works, and project completed by the same researchers.
- Specific goals and timetable for results.
- A list of quantifiable deliverables that can be assessed, e.g. publications, internal papers, technology transfer of software code or mechanical design.
- Expected outcome or impact of research.
- Resources required for completion with identification of source as to institutional, external expert, third party institution or Mevion provided.
- Financial support required from Mevion.
- Overall Financial requirements for each project and to the extent that these exceed the requested support, identify the source of additional funding.
- For support of identified professional researcher, include the titles and credentials of individuals.
- For support of potential researchers to be hired, including the proposed titles and credentials of individuals.
- All expenditure requests should include a total direct and indirect cost and a timeline for expenditures broken down at least by year, shorter periods are preferred. (i.e. quarterly or semi-annually).
- Requests beyond two years will be subject to re-approval.
- The name and contact information of the principal investigator and their supervisor, if appropriate.
Attachments that help in the evaluation are welcome but should be limited to work from the applicant group.
Presentations can be arranged to help in the evaluation of the work.
Health Care Provider FAQs about the MEVION S250 Series
Design
1. What energy is your synchrocyclotron?
The MEVION S250 Series TriNiobium Superconducting Cyclotron has a maximum energy of 250MeV.
2. What is the background dose to patients
The MEVION S250 and S250i accelerator and Direct Dose™ beam line design assures that background dose to patients including neutrons is similar to other proton therapy systems and well below the IEC limit for radiotherapy of 1 mSv/Gy.
The MEVION S250 neutron dose to a patient is one-tenth the background dose experienced from a high energy Linac.
The MEVION S250i further reduces the neutron dose by a one fourth due to its scanned beam design.
3. Are magnetic fields a concern for the MEVION S250?
No, the residual field with in the treatment room is less than 10 Gauss.
4. What is the noise level in the treatment room?
The noise level in the MEVION S250 treatment room is similar to the noise in any conventional radiation therapy room.
5. Has the MEVION S250 been cleared by the USFDA?
Yes, the MEVION S250 is has USFDA Clearance. It also has Health Canada clearance.
6. Does the MEVION S250 comply with MDD/CE requirements?
Yes, the MEVION S250 complies with the MDD/CE requirements.
Service, Maintenance and Training
1. What is the average cost and length of a service agreement?
One year of service and maintenance is included in the price of the system. Additional coverage is optional with cost dependent on the services and term selected.
2. What is the anticipated service presence?
When necessary, Mevion provides an on site engineer who will work at the customer facility and provide support services to our customers to guarantee a more than 95% clinical uptime.
3. How often does the system require routine maintenance?
Routine maintenance is performed on a quarterly basis and Mevion provides a preventative maintenance schedule listing the items to be serviced and the required down times. Scheduled maintenance is typically performed on weekends, outside of working hours and lasts from 1 to 3 days.
4. How long before personnel can access the accelerator for service?
Access to the Mevion accelerator is possible within minutes of turning the beam off. With its efficient MEVION S250 proton source and direct beam architecture, the accelerator only requires a few nano-amps of beam current to deliver 2Gy/min/liter. This greatly decreases the level of radioactivity created in Mevion equipment compared to current accelerators previously used for proton therapy.
5. What is the guaranteed uptime?
Mevion contractually guarantees an uptime and availability of 95%, and our customers are routinely experiencing more than 98% uptime.
6. What types of educational and training programs are offered?
Clinical: Mevion provides a very comprehensive training program for physicians, therapists, dosimetrists and physicists. Training is principally conducted onsite with courses lasting from 2 to 4 days at no additional cost.
Facility: Engineering support training is provided to engineers at the site.
Off-site: An extensive program of visiting programs is available at other Mevion sites.
7. Is there 24/7 support?
Yes, Mevion provides on-site support available for all clinical hours and has a response team available 24/7 for any urgent matters.
8. What is the average response time for a service issue?
The average response time is 5-10 minutes.
Clinical
1. Does the MEVION S250 integrate with other clinical system and programs?
Mevion integrates with leading Oncology partners delivering a clinical workflow that is optimized for Image-Guided, Volumetric, and Intensity Modulated Proton Therapy treatment delivery. The workflow is easy to use and similar to advanced linear accelerator systems providing an easy transition for any radiation oncology department.
2. What 3rd party vendors are supported?
Treatment Planning: RaySearch RayStation™, Philips Pinnacle™, Varian Eclipse™, Elekta XiO™
OIS: RaySearch RayCare™, Varian ARIA™, Elekta MOSAIQ™
Motion Management Systems: VisionRT AlignRT® and GateRT®, humediQ Identify, C-RAD Catalyst
CT Imaging: Airo®, BodyTom®, Siemens CTVision™
Immobilization: Qfix kVue™, BoS™ Insert, BoS™ Headframe
3. Do you offer or require a proprietary treatment planning system?
No, Mevion is designed to integrate with leading radiation therapy treatment planning and oncology information systems. Some proprietary features of HYPERSCAN with Adaptive Aperture are only available on the RaySearch RayStation treatment planning system.
4. What types of treatment techniques are supported?
Image-Guided, Intensity Modulated Proton Therapy, Pencil Beam Scanning and Double Scattering are supported. Mevion proprietary HYPERSCAN with Adaptive Aperture provides precision collimation in IMRT for all treatment depths.
5. What is the minimum and maximum range that can be treated?
The MEVION S250 can treat from 5 - 32 g/ cm2 without a range compensator. The MEVION S250i can treat from the 0 g / cm2 to 32 g/cm2
6. How does the MEVION S250 Series differ from traditional proton therapy systems?
Unlike existing proton centers and other compact systems in the market, the MEVION S250 Series is the only true single room proton therapy system and the smallest system on the market, with a proton accelerator designed (not adapted) for proton therapy. Capital costs and ongoing power expenses are each the lowest on the market. Minimum financial outlay and project risks make proton therapy with the MEVION S250 Series available to a wider range of hospitals and patients than traditional systems.
7. How many patients can be treated per day?
Mevion centers have demonstrated treating over 40 patients per day on a regular basis. All normal maintenance can be scheduled during weekend hours to not impact treatment and physics schedules.
8. How many staff members do you need to run the system?
Only a standard radiation therapy staff is needed to run a MEVION S250 Proton Therapy System. There are no accelerator operators and on-site service is not required.
9. How many hours is the beam available for treatment?
The MEVION S250 Series is clinically available 24 hours a day without down time, so treatment can be delivered at any time.
10. What is the average time to get to first clinical patient treatment?
The Mevion centers have started clinical treatment following 4 to 9 weeks of clinical commissioning. They have also very rapidly started treated pediatric patients.
11. What is the time to complete acceptance testing?
Acceptance testing is completed in 7 days.
12. What is the average time of treatment?
Typical treatment times are 10 to 15 minutes for a two-fields intracranial or prostate treatment and 20 minutes for more complex liver and lung treatments. Treatment times for pediatric patients with anesthesia will vary from 35 to 45 minutes.
Construction and Financial Costs
1. Can I add a system to an existing department?
Yes. Due to the small size and the unique single room configuration of a MEVION S250 Series bunker, many of our customers have been able to add a system to an existing building or transform a previous facility into a proton therapy center.
2. Do you provide project management services?
Yes, project management services are provided in the construction and installation phases.
3. How much space is needed?
The internal footprint of a MEVION S250 Series room is 32ft x 37ft (9.8m x 11.3m). The required height of the entire bunker is 28ft (8.43m)
4. How long is the installation process?
Mevion’s installation process requires 10 months from building construction to acceptance testing.
5. Do you offer commissioning services?
No, Mevion does not offer commissioning services.
We do provide physics education and can refer to a network of independent physicists to assist with commissioning.
6. What is the average electrical cost?
The MEVION S250 electrical requirements are similar to a conventional radiation therapy machine, needing only 94KVA for Beam On and 57KVA for Standby. This translates into cost that is only a 10th of what other proton systems generate and is ~$60k per year.
7. What type of financial services offered?
Mevion offers customized business and financing programs that vary depending on individual needs.
8. What other services are offered?
Mevion’s Customer Care Continuum offers a variety of services that can be tailored to fit your individual needs such as:
Global Implementation Services
Global Customer Care Services
Global Collaboration Services
9. What is the average ROI?
Many of Mevion’s customers have met or exceeded 100% of their initial business plans in the first year with a scheduled ROI in just 5 years.
Success Stories
MEVION S250 SERIES Treatment Locations
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