Elekta and Karkinos Healthcare expand access to modern cancer care treatment across India

STOCKHOLM – Elekta (EKTA-B.ST) announces that Karkinos Healthcare, a leading healthcare provider in India, will acquire more than ten linear accelerator (linac) systems to be strategically deployed across the country. The companies share the ambition to improve patient accessibility to advanced precision cancer therapy.

The deal will include several Elekta Versa HD linacs, which is designed to treat a spectrum of tumors throughout the body supporting both conventional and highly sophisticated techniques, as well as a number of Elekta Harmony Pro systems, the company’s most productive linac yet, designed to provide the best in-room experience for both patients and healthcare professionals.
 
Although an estimated 2.7 million people in India are living with cancer* – with a 12 percent increase by 2025** – companies such as Karkinos Healthcare and Elekta are providing hope. Last year, Elekta announced its ACCESS 2025 strategy to make radiotherapy accessible to 300 million more people in underserved markets by 2025.
 
Manikandan Bala, Elekta’s Managing Director for India, said: “The continuous rise of India’s cancer burden means that access to advanced cancer care technology remains a concerning public health challenge. Elekta’s collaboration with Karkinos Healthcare is a step towards strategically identifying these gaps and addressing such challenges. Through our synergies, we look forward to transforming the current cancer care landscape by increasing patient access to state-of-the-art precision radiotherapy solutions throughout India.”
 
R. Venkataramanan, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Karkinos Healthcare Pvt. Ltd, added: “Cancer services in India have always seen a geographic skew towards big cities and southern India. We hope to play a small catalytic part in bringing greater equity in radiotherapy through our collaboration with Elekta, combining our strengths in technology and clinical expertise. With barely ten percent of the desired radiotherapy capacity as per the recommendations of the World Health Organization in India, radiotherapy access has been a key area of focus for Karkinos.”
 
* Cancer Statistics - India Against Cancer
** ICMR-NCDIR National Cancer Registry Programme estimates 12% increase in cancer cases in the country by 2025 (press release)