All Clarivate websites use cookies to improve your online experience. They were placed on your computer when you launched this website. You can change your cookie settings through your browser.

More information on our cookie policy.

BioWorld. Link to homepage.

Clarivate
  • BioWorld
  • BioWorld MedTech
  • BioWorld Asia
  • BioWorld Science
  • Data Snapshots
    • BioWorld
    • BioWorld MedTech
  • Special reports
    • Aging
    • Artificial intelligence
    • Coronavirus
    • IVDs on the rise
    • Top Biopharma Trends of 2021
    • Top Med-tech Trends of 2021
    • Premium reports
      • BioWorld Financings Reports
      • Disease Incidence & Prevalence Summaries

BioWorld. Link to homepage.

  • Sign In
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Subscribe
BioWorld - Wednesday, August 10, 2022
Home » Blogs » BioWorld MedTech Perspectives » Proton beams and the media

BioWorld MedTech Perspectives
BioWorld MedTech Perspectives RSS FeedRSS

BioWorld MedTech

Proton beams and the media

May 17, 2012
By Mark McCarty
No Comments

As a member of the media, I’m not exactly unaware of the pitfalls of my profession but it might be time to take a look at some of the coverage of proton beam therapy in recent months.

Frankly, most of the mainstream media coverage failed to paint a complete picture and in the process trampled on vital details. On the other hand, some hospitals perhaps could use a lesson in basic economics because you don’t have to install a $300 million cyclotron facility to get protons in your hospital or clinic.

Click here for an example of mainstream media coverage that utterly fails to note the availability of systems that ring in at less than $100 million. Harold Brubaker’s April 29 piece mentions systems coming in for more than $300 million. He’s not alone in that omission, however.

So what’s the problem?

Hospitals in a hurry to spend more?

The problem for hospitals is that they’re dashing off to find the nearest provider of proton beam capability, for one thing. The other problem is that Brubaker doesn’t bother to put enough work into his trade to discuss the availability of much less expensive hardware that requires a much smaller footprint than the traditional cyclotron set-up.

For instance, as I wrote in the April 11 edition of Medical Device Daily, the Radiance 330, made by Protom, can be installed for roughly $50 million. Hospital administrators who feel that’s too much might consider waiting a couple of years to see if the dielectric wall accelerator under development by Compact Particle Accelerator gets through development and an FDA scrub-down. This approach might require a generator of about 15 feet in its longest dimension, and the firm projects a total cost – infrastructure included – of something in the neighborhood of $30 million.

Nearly fired for misbehaving, Levy mouths off

Here’s an example of the worst possible coverage. One article quoted Paul Levy, formerly the president of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, as saying the success of proton beam therapy was simple. “The easiest group to market to in the country is a group of men worrying about the functioning of their penis,” Levy said, according to a March 26 Bloomberg story.

I dare Levy to make a similarly cavalier remark about any part of a woman’s anatomy, especially since he nearly lost his job at Deaconess in 2010 because of an inappropriate relationship with a woman who worked for him. Massachusetts’ attorney general Martha Coakley is quoted as having said that Levy’s relationship with the woman “clearly endangered the reputation of the institution and its management.” He resigned a year later.

Leave it to the mainstream press to quote someone with that much irony-laden baggage.

I know I’m horribly geeky about some things, and I’m especially geeky about things I don’t understand at all, such as protons. But I do understand two things. One is that $30 million is a lot less loot than $300 million – even the kid who throws cereal at Jimmy Fallon knows that – and the other is that if you’re too lazy to tell more than half the story, you really are not very good at what you’re paid to do.

You must login or register in order to post a comment.

Report Abusive Comment

Popular Stories

  • Free access to BioWorld coronavirus articles

    BioWorld
    The articles in this collection are from BioWorld’s ongoing coverage of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. They are available for free with registration. Note...
  • Today's news in brief

    BioWorld
    BioWorld briefs for Aug. 9, 2022.
  • Today's news in brief

    BioWorld MedTech
    BioWorld MedTech briefs for Aug. 9, 2022.
  • Amvuttra

    Alnylam’s Amvuttra rare disease drug among positive recommendations from Europe’s CHMP

    BioWorld
    Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s Amvuttra (vutrisiran), a treatment for the rare disease hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis, was among medicines...
  • Pig organ cells

    Whole body cellular function recovery in pigs after death

    Science
    A new system for restoring cell function and tissues in mammals after death could expand the availability of organs for transplantation. The research also opens...
black cortellis ad

BioWorld Premium

Enjoy extended coverage for the most complete market view with BioWorld, BioWorld MedTech, and BioWorld Asia in a single, easy to access subscription.

Subscribe
  • BioWorld
    • Today's news
    • Analysis and data insight
    • Clinical
    • Data Snapshots
    • Deals and M&A
    • Financings
    • Newco news
    • Opinion
    • Regulatory
    • Science
  • BioWorld MedTech
    • Today's news
    • Clinical
    • Data Snapshots
    • Deals and M&A
    • Financings
    • Newco news
    • Opinion
    • Regulatory
    • Science
  • BioWorld Asia
    • Today's news
    • Analysis and data insight
    • Australia
    • China
    • Clinical
    • Deals and M&A
    • Financings
    • Newco news
    • Regulatory
    • Science
  • BioWorld Science
    • Archives
    • Today's news
    • Search BioWorld Science
    • About
  • More
    • About
    • Archives
    • Article reprints and permissions
    • Contact us
    • Cookie policy
    • Copyright notice
    • Data methodology
    • Podcasts
    • Privacy policy
    • Share your news with BioWorld
    • Staff
    • Terms of use
Follow Us

Copyright ©2022. All Rights Reserved. Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing