MedAustron: Investment in Expansion of the Center
The cancer treatment and research center MedAustron sets a new track for the future: an additional liability and equity increase by the State of Lower Austria make it possible to implement new expansion plans and thus to be able to treat even more people with particle therapy in the future.
It was only in spring that the last of the three planned patient treatment rooms went into operation, paving the way for successively expanding both the range of indications and the number of people treated each year with this special form of radiation therapy. In the long term, however, this is not enough: the center is now to be expanded to include another treatment room, which will be supplied by an independent compact accelerator facility. This week’s decision by the Lower Austrian State Parliament to grant additional liability to the center in the amount of 80 million euros will subsequently enable an increase in equity to the same extent and, among other things, this expansion.
“We are very grateful that the state of Lower Austria puts high trust in us and will provide additional funds for the expansion of our therapy services. With the new system, we are creating an additional resource in the field of radiation therapy and increasing the security of supply for our patients.”
The technical heart of MedAustron is an existing particle accelerator based on a synchrotron. This means that protons and carbon ions, as well as helium ions in the future, are currently available for therapy, but also for radiophysical and radiobiological research. It is a complex medical product, the like of which there are only a few in the world, and thanks to which MedAustron is one of the leaders in the field of particle therapy.
The center is now to be expanded by a second, more compact particle accelerator: a cyclotron that will exclusively produce protons for patient treatment. It is expected to supply an additional treatment site with particle radiation in parallel with the synchrotron starting in 2026. This will enable even more people with cancer to benefit from this form of radiation therapy, which has fewer side effects, while at the same time the second system will also minimize the risk of technical downtime.
“The history of MedAustron is characterized by courageous and far-sighted decisions. I am convinced that the decision to expand the therapy center is also a sound and important one in the fight against cancer. Lower Austria is investing in the future and improving oncological care for those affected.”