Profound Medical (NASDAQ:PROF; TSX:PRN) announced a non-exclusive collaboration with Siemens Healthineers (XETRA:SHL) aimed at laying the groundwork for Profound to begin marketing a complete therapeutics solution, combining its TULSA-PRO system with the MAGNETOM Free.Max magnetic resonance scanner from Siemens Healthineers, via Profound’s own sales force. Profound will also continue to market TULSA-PRO as a stand-alone offering, providing its customers with the flexibility to use the technology with the MR hardware of their choice.
The Transurethral Ultrasound Ablation (“TULSA”) procedure, performed using Profound’s TULSA-PRO system, employs real-time MR guidance for precision to save patients’ vital functions while killing the targeted prostate tissue via a precise sound absorption technology that gently heats it to kill temperature (55°C). TULSA, which is an incision- and radiation-free procedure, enables surgeons to ablate whole- or partial-gland prostate tissue in patients with low-, intermediate, or high-risk prostate cancer; with benign prostatic hyperplasia (“BPH”); as well as those prostate cancer patients on active surveillance seeking treatment of their cancer and relief from their symptoms of BPH. TULSA is a “one-and-done” procedure, performed in a single session that takes a few hours, and no hospital stay is required. Most TULSA patients report quick recovery to their normal routine.
Magnetom Free.Max can be installed in places where MRI used to be impossible. It combines a 0.55 Tesla field strength with advanced hardware design and deep learning technologies. By doing so, the scanner broadens the range of MR clinical applications and provides customers with the inherent clinical benefits of a mid-field MR scanner. The first and only 80 cm wide-bore system available on the market, MAGNETOM Free.Max also facilitates MR scanning for larger and/or claustrophobic patients, enhancing the patient experience. At less than 7,700 Lbs and 80 inches high, the machine is the most lightweight, compact whole-body scanner ever offered by Siemens Healthineers. Its reduced size permits installation with only minimal structural modifications. Furthermore, where MR scanners typically require several hundred liters of helium and a quench pipe for cooling purposes, the new magnet of the MAGNETOM Free.Max uses less than 1 liter of liquid helium, reducing lifecycle and infrastructure costs.
“The updated guidelines from both the European Association of Urology and the American Association of Urology support use of MR imaging to aid in the diagnosis of prostate cancer. Beyond that, with the recent introduction of TULSA-PRO, MR imaging now not only has the power to fundamentally change how prostate cancer is diagnosed, but also how it is treated,” Mark Emberton, MD, FRCS, FMedSci, Professor of Interventional Oncology, Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, University College London (UCL), said in a statement.
“I commend the teams at Siemens Healthineers and Profound as they work to achieve the convergence of their respective diagnostic and interventional MR technologies. Their pioneering work has the potential to improve oncological and functional outcomes for a very significant number of prostate cancer patients,” he added.
Arun Menawat, PhD, CEO and Chairman of Profound medical said in a statement, “This partnership continues to support the Modern Treatment Pathway that allows for more accurate and precise diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up; and brings us another step closer to realizing our long-term vision of creating a total diagnostic and interventional MR solution that will allow a prostate disease patient to be diagnosed in the morning via a diagnostic MR procedure, treated in the afternoon, perhaps even using the very same MR to guide TULSA, and then home in time for dinner with his family.”
“MAGNETOM Free.Max has already brought MR to new places, varying from orthopedic centers to rural hospitals, where patients need MR imaging most. We look forward to collaborating with Profound to help expand access to TULSA as well. Together, we are dedicated to advancing an integrated, MRI-centric approach for prostate cancer patients worldwide,” added Donald Hardie, Vice President Global Marketing & Sales Magnetic Resonance at Siemens Healthineers.
Subject to the completion of TULSA-PRO and MAGNETOM Free.Max system integration, the companies currently expect Profound to initiate sales of the combined solution in 2025.
