Today will mark the start of the North American partnership agreement between Siemens Healthcare and Varian Medical Systems for the development and marketing of image-guided radiotherapy and radiosurgery products.
In April, the two companies announced the global collaboration, and it was rolled out first in other countries.
"It's a sales and marketing partnership basically, and from a strategic stand point, there's also an R&D [research and development] part too," Matthias Kraemer, head of public and media relations at Siemens, told DOTmed News.
In a statement that coincided with the start of the annual meeting of the American Society for Radiology Oncology (ASTRO), Siemens said that the collaboration further includes the development of software interfaces between Siemens and Varian treatment systems. The two companies will also investigate opportunities for joint development of new products for image-guided radiotherapy and radiosurgery.
Varian will represent Siemens diagnostic imaging products such as CT, PET/CT, and MRI to radiation oncology clinics in North America and in most international markets. Similarly, Siemens will represent Varian equipment and software for radiotherapy and radiosurgery to its health care customers. According to the Siemens statement, this collaboration allows both companies to offer comprehensive solutions to support the entire clinical workflow from imaging to treatment.
