Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM and Philips announced their intention to develop a nuclear medicine industry in Russia. Nuclear medicine is an important imaging technique to diagnose oncologic diseases at an early stage. With cancer increasingly becoming a primary cause of death, this partnership is an important step towards better healthcare in Russia.

The two companies intend to collaborate within four areas, including manufacturing high-resolution diagnostic equipment in nuclear medicine — SPECT (Single-photon emission computed tomography), SPECT/CT (combined with CT) and PET/CT (Positron emission tomography combined with CT). Under the intended collaboration, for the first time in Russia an international manufacturer would grant its local partner a license for a SPECT/CT model production, reducing the dependency of production of this equipment in other countries. New equipment is intended to be offered to Russia and CIS markets under joint branding.

The second important area of cooperation comes with joint R&D, including clinical trials, development of a local component base and upgrade of joint products. Philips would also license to ROSATOM unique engineering know-how for production and maintenance of localized medical devices. The final part of the collaboration aims to build out the first Russian manufacturer and supplier of a full PET center for both local and global markets.

“The main objective of our collaboration is to create a comprehensive nuclear medicine industry in Russia. This is intended to be developing, long term cooperation. In line with the state program of the Russian government, we intend to reach a 50% localization target for all medical equipment in Russia. We believe the partnership will catalyze growth in the local medical equipment industry, and we urge Russian companies to become our partners or suppliers. In the near future we hope to start diagnosing people with Russian equipment capable to compete with the best of its kind around the world,” said Sergey Kirienko, General Director of the State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM.

By offering affordable diagnostics equipment tailored for the local market, the partnership is believed to help modernize medical equipment in Russian hospitals. According to independent experts, over 140 PET centers should be built in Russia in the nearest future.

”PET technology — is the latest nuclear medicine imaging technique or radioisotope diagnostics. Mostly used in oncology with, PET scans can technically diagnose cancer on zero stage even before tumor tissue changes its structure. This will help significantly reduce public funding of costly oncology treatment. Early diagnostics of cancer are extremely important as oncologic diseases increasingly become #2 cause of mortality in Russia. Upon the last 10 years death rate of cancer has skyrocketed to 13.8% along with about 2.7 million cancer patients,” said Steve Rusckowski, Executive Vice-President and Chief Executive Officer, Philips Healthcare.

Under the envisioned cooperation, the state corporation ROSATOM would provide the partnership with infrastructure, processing datum surface and oversee production process; and Philips would invest technology know-how under license agreements. Also Philips experts would provide in-depth training to Russian engineers employed at R&D and production site.