GE HealthCare has partnered with radiation therapy company Elekta to develop new software to improve clinicians experience and enable greater precision treatment. 

Elekta will use GE HealthCare’s MIM Software imaging management platform, which GE HealthCare acquired earlier this month. MIM’s auto contouring and treatment management platform will allow Elekta to develop radiation oncology treatments. 

"Our decision to join GE HealthCare was driven by a ‘shared vision of maximizing impact’ and our motivation for this collaboration with Elekta is no different," Andy Nelson, CEO of MIM Software, GE HealthCare, said in a statement.

"For decades, we have engaged directly with clinicians to understand their needs and bridge the divide by building solutions that streamline their clinical workflows and reduce treatment delays for patients. With the evolution of treatment planning software, we stand to make an impact on clinicians and patients worldwide. Now, we are excited to extend the reach of these efforts by boosting Elekta’s offerings with our vendor-agnostic solutions."

THE LARGER TREND

The new collaboration comes just weeks after GE HealthCare acquired Cleveland-based MIM Software, which provides remote software solutions for oncology, nuclear medicine, cardiac imaging and neuroimaging. 

GE HealthCare has collaborated with several oncology companies in the past year. In September, the Chicago-based company teamed up with Mayo Clinic to advance theranostics, AI and digital health platforms.  

Theranostics is a form of precision medicine that pairs diagnostic biomarkers with therapeutics to pinpoint and target cancer cells. 

In November, GE HealthCare and Grand Rapids-based BAMF Health collaborated to advance the use of theranostics. BAMF Health offers molecular therapies for people living with cancer with a strong focus on theranostics. 

Last week, GE HealthCare announced it was partnering with tech giants Microsoft and LG Electronics to support smart hospital construction in South Korea. The three companies signed an agreement to contribute to hospitals using their respective medical technologies and solutions. 

Stockholm-based Elekta announced in October that it acquired the Xoft business from iCAD. The electronic brachytherapy system, dubbed Axxent Electronic Brachytherapy (eBx), uses low-energy X-rays as a source instead of radioactive isotopes, which allows the technology to be used in more clinical settings.