The Oklahoma ProCure Treatment Center will be the first-ever proton therapy cancer treatment center in the United States to be owned and operated by physicians. It will house four treatment rooms and expects its first patients to be treated in summer 2009.

This center results from a partnership between two private Oklahoma City oncology practices — Radiation Medicine Associates and Radiation Oncology Associates — and ProCure Treatment Centers, Inc., an Indiana-based firm specializing in the development of proton therapy centers. “This center will provide greater access to Proton Therapy,” says William C. Goad, M.D., radiation oncologist, co-founder of Radiation Medicine Associates, and one of the physicians who will treat patients at the new center. “Patients who would benefit from Proton Therapy in our area will now have it without having to travel so far and be away from home for so long.” Proton therapy can be especially helpful for patients who have been treated previously with conventional radiation therapy and now have a recurrence of the tumor, he adds.

Senior debt and mezzanine financing were obtained through collaboration with two world-class financial institutions, Fortis and KBC (Belgium). “There are no radiation cancer treatments in the world today as precise and effective as proton therapy,” said Hadley Ford, Chief Executive Officer of ProCure, which is based in Bloomington, Indiana. “Financing our Oklahoma City facility ensures we can provide a world-class cancer treatment facility for the people of this region and utilize world-class therapeutic equipment.”

The center will benefit from the latest proton therapy technology, including a robotic patient positioner, cone beam CT and intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT). The Oklahoma ProCure Treatment Center will employ about 100 full-time staff members, treating patients over two eight-hour shifts per day. Goad concludes: “I am most excited about having the opportunity to provide proton therapy to patients in my practice. As an Oklahoman, I am especially proud of helping provide access to proton therapy in our community.”