Press Information
December 1, 2014
Philips and Netherlands Cancer Institute expand collaboration with new agreement to enable
personalized cancer care and improve outcomes for cancer patients
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Collaboration will benefit patients through innovations that improve the hospital’s
capabilities in integrated cancer diagnostics, image guided therapies and research
Agreement gives the Netherlands Cancer Institute access to latest state-of-the-art medical
imaging and healthcare informatics technologies
Amsterdam, the Netherlands – Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) and the Netherlands
Cancer Institute today announced a new agreement that expands their long-term collaboration
and enforces the mission of the Netherlands Cancer Institute in offering the best possible care
to cancer patients. The agreement will give the only Comprehensive Cancer Centre in the
Netherlands access to the latest healthcare innovations to contribute to the institute’s
spearheads: personalized medicine and image guided precision treatment.
The Netherlands Cancer Institute and Philips will be working closely together to realize a
paradigm shift in the surgical treatment of cancer patients to improve their treatment
outcomes. They aim to advance from ‘standard’ surgical procedures towards personalized
precision surgery to enable improved first-time-right removal of all tumor tissue. To this end,
the agreement includes an innovative hybrid suite, a combination of a sterile conventional
operating room with a lab for image guided therapies. It offers an integrated and
comprehensive solution in which a wide range of procedures can be performed from
conventional surgery to new live 3D image guided therapies.
The Netherlands Cancer Institute also joins a group of early adopters with the commercial
installation of the new Philips Vereos – the world’s first and only digital PET/CT system - that
through its digital detector technology offers high image resolution at low radiation dose. It will
support the Netherlands Cancer Institute enhancing cancer diagnosis and staging and advancing
personalized medicine in oncology.
The new agreement expands the existing research collaboration between the organizations,
which has been in place since 2011. Besides the development of image-guided surgery, the
partners are also working together to optimize radiotherapy planning. The Netherlands Cancer
Institute is also a member of a research consortium led by Elekta and supported by Philips as the
MRI technology partner. The consortium is developing the world’s first high-field MR-guided
radiation therapy system to allow doctors to adapt radiation therapy during the procedure. This
could improve treatment accuracy, potentially reducing side effects and enabling increases in
the therapeutic dose.
“As a Comprehensive Cancer Centre combining state-of-the-art research and hospital facilities,
we are committed to contributing to innovations that change clinical practice in patient care and
to continuously improving our efficiency and patient centeredness. The new equipment will be
used for diagnosing and staging cancer in the initial stages as well as for cutting-edge imageguided treatment and therapy monitoring. The new imaging capabilities will be a cornerstone of
our research into personalized and image-guided therapy, allowing treatment plans to be
tailored to the patient at the earliest stage for improved patient outcomes,” said Wim van
Harten, board member and Director Organization and Management at the Netherlands Cancer
Institute.
“Our ambition to develop impactful innovations can only be achieved by working closely with
world-leading clinical partners like the Netherlands Cancer Institute,” said Frans van Houten,
CEO of Royal Philips. “The new agreement reinforces the strong relationship we already have. By
bringing our latest imaging and clinical informatics innovations for cancer diagnosis and
treatment to this partnership, we can help improve care for patients at the center, while our
extended joint research programs will lay the foundation for tomorrow’s integrated cancer
care.”
The agreement further includes Philips’ digital Ingenia 3T MRI system, digitalization of their
existing 3T MRI system through Philips’ dStream upgrade program and EPIQ and CX50
ultrasound. Healthcare informatics will give the hospital an integrated oncology solution that
combines patient data across relevant imaging modalities to support disease diagnosis,
treatment decision and tracking over time.
The Netherlands Cancer Institute is located in Amsterdam. Its research institute accommodates
approximately 750 scientists and scientific support personnel. Its hospital, Antoni van
Leeuwenhoek, employs over 150 medical specialists and is continuously renovating its facilities.
In 2015 it will include 220 beds, 10 operating rooms, 11 radiotherapy units and an outpatient
clinic that sees over 8000 new cancer patients per year. It is the only OECI designated
Comprehensive Cancer Centre in the Netherlands, and is an important national and
international center of scientific and clinical expertise, development and training.
For further information, please contact:
Joost Maltha
Philips Healthcare
Tel.: +31 6 10 55 8116
E-mail: joost.maltha@philips.com
Steve Klink Philips
Group Communications
Tel.: +31 6 10 88 8824
E-mail: steve.klink@philips.com
Nathalie Grotenhuis
Netherlands Cancer Institute
Tel.: +31 (0)20 512 9031
E-mail: n.grotenhuis@nki.nl
About Royal Philips
Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a diversified health and well-being company, focused on
improving people’s lives through meaningful innovation in the areas of Healthcare, Consumer
Lifestyle and Lighting. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips posted 2013 sales of EUR 23.3
billion and employs approximately 113,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100
countries. The company is a leader in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare, energy
efficient lighting solutions and new lighting applications, as well as male shaving and grooming
and oral healthcare. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter.
About the Netherlands Cancer Institute
The Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2013. For decades it
has been among the absolute world top when it comes to the unique connection between the
care and research that makes all the difference for cancer patients. In multidisciplinary teams
surgeons, oncologists, radiologists, radiotherapists and nurses are continuously working on
tailor-made treatments. Because in essence no two cancers are the same. As it is now becoming
possible to unravel the specific genetic changes in the nucleus of the cancer cell that influence
the behavior of the tumor, our researchers are increasingly capable of developing new, tailormade treatments. The Netherlands Cancer Institute chose, already a century ago, for the
ground-breaking approach of combining the research at the Netherlands Cancer Institute with
the specialized cancer care of the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek hospital. The institute is located in
Amsterdam. It is the only OEIC designated Comprehensive Cancer Centre in the Netherlands,
and is an important national and international center of scientific and clinical expertise,
development and training. News from the Netherlands Cancer Institute is located at www.nki.nl
and www.av.nl.