Ion Beam Applications : IBA announces a partnership to develop digital technologies to improve the affordability and clinical value of proton therapy

Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, May 6th, 2019 - IBA (Ion Beam Applications SA), the world's leading provider of proton therapy solutions for the treatment of cancer, is pleased to announce a research agreement with Skandionkliniken, Université Catholique de Louvain and Telemis aimed at accelerating installation, optimizing service and improving clinical operations.

New developments in machine learning, statistics and pattern analysis allow providing clinical and operations staff with meaningful outcomes from the data generated by proton therapy systems.

The main objective of this program is to further improve treatment quality through personalized on-line adaptive therapy. Additionally, this project will also help to maximize the uptime and the patient throughput of the system while minimizing yearly maintenance cost.

The Walloon Region supports this 3-year agreement, called the BiDMed project (for Big Data in Medicine) through its Biowin health cluster.

Alexandru Dasu, Medical Physicist, Chief of Physics, Skandionkliniken, commented: 'In order to maximize the benefits of proton therapy, we need to minimize the exposure of healthy tissue to the radiation dose. This pushes us to adapt our dose distribution plan as the tumor evolves throughout the course of treatment. This agreement will allow Skandionkliniken to continue to pioneer new ways of using the latest treatment course data to personalize treatment.'

Benoit Macq, Ph.D., UCL, commented: 'UCLouvain is proud to be part of this venture. Our University wants to be a key partner in the digital transition of companies with a focus on the use of emerging tools of machine learning. The challenges proposed in BidMed will allow broadening our expertise in deep learning and cyberphysics. BidMed will treat large data sets and will be an exemplary use case of our research in algorithmic.'

Gery Gevers, Executive Vice President, Digital Solutions, IBA, commented: 'IBA is constantly looking for ways to improve patient outcomes and reduce the access cost to proton therapy. We are proud to join forces with leading academic centers such as Skandionkliniken and UCL as well as with innovative digital companies such as Telemis to achieve this ambitious goal. We are also thankful to the Walloon Region and Biowin to support our efforts in offering innovative treatment delivery.'

Stephane Ketelaer, CEO of Telemis commented: 'This agreement underlines our commitment to improving patient treatments by developing innovative medical imaging solutions and building strong relationships between medical technology leaders and internationally recognized university research centers.'

Sylvie Ponchaut, Managing Director Biowin, commented:'BioWin is proud to enrich its portfolio with BidMed, this collaborative and innovative program gathering leaders in the field of proton therapy and digital technologies. By joining our forces in improving personalized cancer treatment, these actors are responding to an important need of the patient and contribute to the reinforcement of the excellence of Wallonia.'

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About IBA

IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A.) is a global medical technology company focused on bringing integrated and innovative solutions for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The company is the worldwide technology leader in the field of proton therapy, considered to be the most advanced form of radiation therapy available today. IBA's proton therapy solutions are flexible and adaptable, allowing customers to choose from universal full-scale proton therapy centers as well as compact, single room solutions. In addition, IBA also has a radiation dosimetry business and develops particle accelerators for the medical world and industry. Headquartered in Belgium and employing about 1,500 people worldwide, IBA has installed systems across the world.

IBA is listed on the Pan-European stock exchange NYSE EURONEXT (IBA: Reuters IBAB.BR and Bloomberg IBAB.BB).

More information can be found at http://www.iba-worldwide.com

About Telemis

Telemis specialises in the development of medical imaging software and more specifically PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System) software. The Telemis product line aims to assist hospitals, clinics and private practices to manage digital medical images and to eliminate the need for X-ray film, thereby reducing costs and increasing the quality of the care provided.

Created in 1999 as a start-up from advanced university research, Telemis is located on the campus of the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) in Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium with international offices in Luxembourg, Paris, Toulouse, Turin, and Neuchâtel. It shares and collaborates with UCL and other top-notch university centers on technology development and, as a leading provider of integrated medical imaging IT solutions, 244 hospitals, and other healthcare centres use its products across Europe, Middle East, and Africa.

More information can be found at www.telemis.com

For further information, please contact:

IBA

Aymeric Harmant

Global Marketing Director

[phone]

[e-mail]

Telemis

Bruno Piscaglia

Telephone: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]