Varian's (VAR) ProBeam Compact Treats First Patient At UAB

Varian Medical Systems, Inc. (NYSE:VAR) recently announced that Proton International, the first proton therapy center at The University of Alabama at Birmingham (“UAB”), has treated its first cancer patient with the Varian ProBeam Compact proton therapy system. This solidifies Varian’s foothold in the proton therapy market.

Following the release, shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company rose 7.5% to $111.26 at close.

More on ProBeam

Varian’s flagship ProBeam 360° system offers a comprehensive and customizable solution which allows single or multi-room centers to meet clinical needs.

The ProBeam platform is a significant contributor to Varian’s Proton Therapy business, which also has a strong pipeline. The platform has seen some developments in recent times.

For instance, the South Florida Proton Therapy Institute has started treating patients on Varian’s ProBeam compact single room system. Further, Varian has been selected by China Medical University Hospital in Taiwan for the installation of a ProBeam 360° system in a single-room configuration.

Market Prospects

Per a study by Reportlinker, the global proton therapy market is projected to see a CAGR of 13.5% from 2019 to 2025. Rising incidence of cancer cases and growing demand for advanced cancer treatment therapy are the driving factors.

Hence, the latest development has been a well-timed one for Varian.

More Developments

Varian has been witnessing a slew of developments lately, which is expected to further help the company transform cancer care.

Notably, this month, Varian was selected to equip the new Ethos Personalized Adaptive Therapy Center in Arizona. Varian’s Ethos therapy provides the ability to personalize patients' radiation treatments based on their anatomy.

Furthermore, Varian’s Halcyon 2.0 treatment system has been approved by the China National Medical Products Administration allowing the company to market this cancer treatment system in the country.

That’s not all. Earlier this month, the Quebec government selected Varian Medical for an order of 12 medical linear accelerators. Notably, over the last four years, a total of 21 Varian linear accelerators have been purchased by the government.

Price Performance

Over the past year, shares of Varian have slipped 18.5% compared with the industry’s 18.7% decline.

Key Picks

Some better-ranked companies in the broader medical sector include Stryker Corp. (NYSE:SYK) , Accuray Inc. (NASDAQ:ARAY) and IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Stryker’s long-term earnings growth is expected at 10.1%.

Accuray’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings are expected to skyrocket 150%.

IDEXX Laboratories’ first-quarter earnings growth is projected at 6.8%.

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