Varian Medical Systems and Still River Systems, Inc. are to develop an interface between Varian's ARIA (TM) Oncology Information System and Still River's Monarch250 (TM) Proton Beam Radiotherapy System. Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) and Still River Systems, Inc. today announced an agreement to develop an interface between Varian's ARIA™ Oncology Information System and Still River's Monarch250™ Proton Beam Radiotherapy (PBRT) System.

"ARIA is a powerful oncology information system that manages the clinical processes unique to radiotherapy treatments for cancer," said Corey Zankowski, Varian's senior director for product management. "In addition to providing a complete electronic medical record for oncology, ARIA is exceptional at recording and verifying the numerous treatment parameters and instruction sets required for complex radiotherapy treatments. Varian is committed to creating a completely open environment and ensuring connectivity between ARIA and most commonly-used radiation delivery devices, including proton treatment systems. As such, Varian is pleased to be developing, with the support of Still River, an interface with the Monarch250 proton therapy system."

"It is Varian's aim to bring the familiar workflow, look and feel of ARIA into the proton environment, to ease the transition of staff from conventional radiotherapy to proton therapy," adds James DeFilippi, Varian's business manager for integrated proton solutions.

Still River Systems will provide technical assistance to Varian engineers, who will develop the interface to allow important "record and verify" functionality across the two systems.

"We are developing the Monarch250 proton therapy system to support existing clinical processes. The Monarch250 ARIA interface will allow cancer centers to integrate proton therapy within their existing radiation therapy practices," adds Skip Rosenthal, PhD, Still River Systems vice president, clinical systems.

Any new ARIA interface that facilitates "record and verify" functions with new radiotherapy delivery technologies are subject to 510(k) clearance by the FDA, and would need such clearance prior to any clinical deployment.