GE Healthcare, has announced its strategic initiative to strengthen its molecular imaging business in India and to promote early detection of cancer in tier II & III towns. As part of its plan, GE Healthcare will design, develop and manufacture a cost effective 'In India, for India' PET/CT Molecular Imaging System and set up an efficient bio-marker distribution system. The company will invest US$ 15 million to design this system at the GE John F Welch Technology Centre, Bangalore.

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in India today, with about 1.5 to 2 million cancer patients, and the addition of 700,000 new cases detected every year. An estimated 300,000 patients in India die annually due to cancer. This could be just the tip of an iceberg as the cancer registries are functional only in fewer towns in India.

Early detection is key to early, effective treatment and saving lives. PET/CT Molecular Imaging System has proven to be the most valuable tool not only for early detection of cancer but also in planning treatment and monitoring of the disease. PET is different from the more traditional imaging systems, which simply identify anatomic location or a tumour size. Instead, PET records molecular activity indicative of rapid tumour growth. PET/CT is used to collect both metabolic and anatomic information in order to provide a comprehensive look inside the human body. Using these combined images, doctors can locate the tumour, find out its spread and its size.

Setting up a molecular imaging centre calls for enormous investment today. Healthcare practitioners have to import PET/CT imaging systems, which cost upwards of Rs 6 crore and set up biomarker/FDG production facilities at an additional cost of Rs 10 to 12 crore. Consequently, today PET/CT systems are available only in big hospitals and largely in the private sector. Creating an In India, for India solution will bring down these costs drastically and help spread the technology to tier II and II towns, where no such facilities exist.

"Cancer care is a complex, expensive and painful process. At GE Healthcare we are working on discoveries that will advance the care of oncology patients. It is now looking to partner with healthcare providers in India to create innovative solutions that are helping spread this early detection technology for the benefit of cancer patients," said Terri Bresenham, vice president, molecular imaging business, GE Healthcare. If India has to shed the tag of cancer capital of the world, more innovative technologies that are accessible and affordable to all need to be created he added.

GE Healthcare has initiated design and development of an "India, for India" PET/CT imaging system that will cost 30 to 40 per cent less than other currently available molecular imaging systems. This is the first time any healthcare company will be designing, developing and manufacturing such high-end technologies in India.

GE Healthcare set up India's first PET and PET/CT Centre at Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai and is the leader in this segment with three out of four hospitals here opting for its Discovery PET/CT systems. The new PET/CT is expected to be commercially available in India and for the world in 2014.

"Our team of over 1,200 scientists and engineers will develop healthcare solutions in India. Their expertise and experience in developing high technology solutions for developed world will be an asset in developing this new, affordable PET/CT for India and the world," said V Raja, president & CEO, GE Healthcare South Asia.

Molecular imaging differs from traditional imaging and uses essential probes known as biomarkers to help image particular parts of the human body. Biomarkers interact chemically with their surroundings and in turn alter the image according to molecular changes occurring within the area of interest. The FDG interacts with the disease-affected cells and the damaged cells glow during the scanning procedure, making it easy for the physician to identify disease cells, its exact location etc and plan treatment.

FDG required to be produced locally using a medical cyclotron with an enormous investment of Rs 12-15 crore per site. It was found unviable and cancer patients could not benefit the early detection possibility from this innovation called PET CT in India till recently. GE Healthcare, working with like-minded customers has come up with a unique hub & spoke model to save healthcare practitioners from the burden of making heavy investments. The company has teamed up with its customers and Indian air carriers to create an efficient FDG delivery process for oncology centres across India on a daily and timely basis.

Presently, GE cyclotrons are installed by Healthcare Global Private Limited, Bangalore; Shreeji Diagnostics Ltd, Mumbai and INMAS; Delhi. These centres are producing FDG at their sites to support their own patient load as well as supporting many centers at Cochin, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Calcutta

India's first PET was installed in the year 2000 and the second installation took another five years. The high investments required to set up cyclotron units was preventing growth of this important early detection tool. Now the hub and spoke model of distributing the bio-markers is helping the technology spread across major and tier II towns and has now touched 50 installations," said N R Balamurugan, general manager, Molecular Imaging Business, GE Healthcare.