Proton Therapy Center in OKC Is Open and Treating Patients With Cancer

Oklahoma City, Oct. 27, 2009 - The ProCure Proton Therapy Center in Oklahoma City has received the prestigious "2009 Most Promising New Business" award from the Oklahoma Business Roundtable, a statewide organization that promotes Oklahoma's economic development by encouraging business investment and jobs.  The award was announced at the Venture of the Year banquet last night.  

The ProCure Center opened in July and is one of only six centers in the country providing proton therapy to patients with cancer.  Proton therapy is an alternative to X-ray radiation that spares healthy tissue and results in far fewer short- and long-term treatment side effects.  More than 3,200 of the 18,000 Oklahomans diagnosed with cancer this year would be considered candidates for proton therapy.

"Oklahoma City is home to the first of ProCure's emerging network of proton treatment centers and it has been an excellent, supportive environment," said Hadley Ford, CEO of ProCure Treatment Centers, Inc.  "We are grateful to the Oklahoma Business Roundtable for the award and to the medical and business communities throughout the state for welcoming the Center and ProCure."

"This award is an acknowledgement of innovation and quality and I am very pleased to accept it on behalf of every member of our staff," said Ed Bertels, president of the Center. "Our first patients are just completing their course of treatment and the dream of having a treatment center in Oklahoma is now a reality.  It is a very rewarding time and standing here today, receiving this award is a special moment."

The Center broke ground in April 2007 and set a world record by opening just 27 months later - nine months ahead of any previous center. The 60,000 sq. ft. facility contains four treatment rooms and, at full capacity, will be able to treat 1,500 patients each year. About 100 full-time people will be employed at the Center.

"We are the award recipients but the credit for bringing this Center to fruition goes to so many people - including the business community in the State of Oklahoma," said John Cameron, Ph.D., founder of ProCure. "They realized the importance of bringing proton therapy here and shared our vision.  We thank you for believing in ProCure and in the physicians and hospitals that have joined with us to create the Center."

Clinical care at the Center is being provided by Radiation Medicine Associates (RMA), one of the state's leading radiation oncology practices. Collectively, RMA's physicians have more than 70 years experience in the field, and are known for clinical excellence and for pioneering new technologies and approaches in patient care. The Center also has an affiliation with INTEGRIS Health, the state's largest hospital system. INTEGRIS's new, state-of-the art Cancer Institute of Oklahoma, located adjacent to the ProCure Center, will open later this year and provide patients with additional medical services that they may need while undergoing proton therapy.

About 60,000 people worldwide have been treated with protons - more than 30,000 in the U.S. - since it was first used more than 50 years ago.  The treatment has become more widely available as imaging technology has advanced and tumors can be precisely located and defined, which is important with proton therapy.

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ABOUT PROCURE TREATMENT CENTERS
ProCure Treatment Centers, Inc., based in Bloomington, Ind., was founded in 2005 to improve the lives of patients with cancer by increasing access to proton therapy. ProCure collaborates with leading radiation oncology practices and hospitals and provides management leadership and a comprehensive approach for the design, construction, financing, staffing, training and day-to-day operations of world-class proton therapy centers. ProCure's solution reduces the time, cost and effort necessary to create a facility. ProCure is the only company in the world with a center open and treating patients, another under construction (Warrenville, Ill.) and four others in development (Seattle; Somerset, N.J.; South Florida; and Detroit, Mich.). ProCure's Training and Development Center is the first facility in the world dedicated exclusively to proton therapy. For more information, visit www.procure.com.

 About Radiation Medicine Associates (RMA)
Radiation Medicine Associates, a leading radiation oncology practice in Oklahoma City, is bringing proton therapy, the most advanced external radiation therapy treatment, to Oklahoma City. They are well known and respected clinical physicians with a long history of clinical excellence. The doctors practice at the leading institutions in the area and have pioneered the newest and most appropriate cancer treatment technologies in the community. The physicians are longstanding members of the Oklahoma community who have dedicated their professional lives to the improvement of cancer treatment.

About INTEGRIS Health
INTEGRIS Health is the state's largest Oklahoma-owned not-for-profit healthcare corporation, with hospitals, rehabilitation centers, physician clinics, mental health facilities, fitness centers, independent living centers and home health agencies throughout much of the state. Through its affiliates, INTEGRIS Health operates 13 hospitals, led in the Oklahoma City area by INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center and INTEGRIS Southwest Medical Center. The organization has affiliated mental health providers in 50 Oklahoma towns and cities, and offers hospice services through Hospice of Oklahoma County.

Media Contact: Andrea Johnson
312-558-1770
ajohnson@pcipr.com