IBA (Ion Beam Applications)
Belgian proton-therapy and radiopharmaceutical company. Global leader in proton-therapy equipment by unit count, with a parallel large business in cyclotrons for radiopharmaceutical production — the FDG cyclotrons in many hospital and commercial radiopharmacies are IBA Cyclone-class. Publicly listed on Euronext Brussels.
Company history
- 1986 — spun off from Université catholique de Louvain by Yves Jongen and colleagues, commercializing accelerator technology developed at the university.
- Late 1990s — ships first commercial proton-therapy system (Proteus).
- 2000s — Proteus PLUS multi-room centers become the standard reference architecture for academic proton-therapy centers worldwide.
- 2010s — Proteus ONE launches: a compact single-room proton-therapy system based on a superconducting synchrocyclotron, lowering the entry barrier for community-hospital proton programs.
- 2020s — continued installed-base growth in proton therapy and radiopharmaceutical cyclotrons, plus a growing dosimetry / QA equipment business (myQA platform, ProteusONE / patient-QA workflow).
Product line
Proton therapy
- Proteus ONE — compact single-room proton system. Superconducting synchrocyclotron + one 360° gantry. Designed for siting in community-hospital footprints rather than dedicated multi-room buildings.
- Proteus PLUS — full multi-room proton center (typically 2–4 treatment rooms + central cyclotron). Reference architecture for academic / national proton-therapy programs.
Cyclotrons (radiopharmaceutical production)
- Cyclone KIUBE / Cyclone 11 / Cyclone 18 — FDG-class hospital and commercial-radiopharmacy F-18 production.
- Cyclone 30 — higher-energy multi-isotope production (Ga-68, Cu-64, I-124, etc.).
- Cyclone 70 — research / specialty radiotracer production (high-energy).
Dosimetry / QA
- myQA platform — patient-specific QA, machine QA, and adaptive-RT workflow.
- Proton-specific QA equipment — Bragg-peak chambers, 2D scintillation arrays, multi-layer ionization chambers.
Distinctive technology
- Superconducting synchrocyclotron (Proteus ONE) — compact enough to integrate into the gantry footprint, eliminating the separate accelerator-vault requirement of conventional multi-room proton centers.
- Pencil-beam scanning (PBS) — spot-scanning proton delivery, the proton analogue of photon IMRT, now the clinical standard across the IBA platform.
- Adaptive proton-therapy workflow — paired with myQA software, supports daily image-guided proton delivery in evolving clinical practice.
Market position
Largest installed base of clinical proton-therapy systems globally by unit count. Competes with Hitachi (Proton-Beam Therapy System), Varian ProBeam, Mevion (S250-class compact systems), and Sumitomo. In the FDG / radiopharmaceutical-cyclotron segment, competes with GE PETtrace and Siemens Eclipse.
Refurb posture
- Proton therapy installed base is small per-vendor; refurb / used-system market is institutional rather than retail. Lifecycle decisions are program-level.
- Cyclotrons (Cyclone family) see refurb / relocation activity in the radiopharmacy segment; service-network coverage and parts continuity are the dominant lifecycle considerations.
- Service contracts dominate operating economics for both proton and cyclotron platforms.
Related
- Proton Therapy
- PET / CT — cyclotrons feed FDG / Ga-68 supply
- IBA Proteus ONE
- IBA Proteus PLUS