Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ministry of Science and Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ministry of Earth Science; MoS of Prime Minister's Office and Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today said, Government is supporting indigenous development of high-powered Magnetron technology used mainly for cancer radiation therapy.                           

Dr Jitendra Singh presided over the signing of a MoU between Technology Development Board (TDB) of DST and M/s Panacea Medical Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore to provide financial support for development and commercialisation of “S Band Tunable Magnetron for Particle Accelerators". TDB has agreed to provide loan assistance of ₹4.87 crores, out of the total project cost of ₹9.73 crores to the company.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, high-powered Magnetron developed by CSIR-CEERI (Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute), Pilani for commercial use will be a pathbreaking technology for Oncologists to treat even 2 mm diameter brain tumour with precision radiation with very little side-effects. He said, this will not only increase efficacy, but also prove cost effective in treatment of micro and major tumours.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, with the handholding of TDB, Panacea developed India’s first most advanced & innovative SBRT enabled Linear Accelerator (LINAC), Siddharth II, capable of performing treatment modalities like 3DCRT, VMAT, IMRT, SBRT and SRS. He said, this machine with U.S. FDA, 510(k) clearance has been launched on Technology Day celebrated on 11th May 2022 and this is the third brand in the world which is ready for the market beside two global giants UK and Japan. The Minister further added that in tune with Modi Government’s mantra of “Make in India” with “Make for the World”, the machine can be exported to many countries in the world as the company has already received US FDA clearance.

Currently, our economy is dependent on use of imported magnetron in various applications related to NDT, radar & other industrial applications in addition to medical applications. This technology can be further extended for other applications ensuring seamless supply of RF source to Medical LINAC Manufacturers across the globe.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, TDB supporting Panacea Medical Technologies for “Development and Commercialization of S Band Tunable Magnetron for Particle Accelerators” would enable Panacea one step ahead to further lower the cost of Siddharth II to make the cancer treatment more affordable to the common man. This also exemplifies the best Industry Academia linkage promoting market driven R&D to benefit the society at large.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, medical devices have been identified as a priority sector by Narendra Modi Government under the flagship 'Make in India' program and it is committed to strengthen the indigenously manufacturing ecosystem of the country. He said, currently, India is the fourth largest medical devices market in Asia, after Japan, China & South Korea and positioned 20^th in the global market. India imports about 86% of its requirement of medical equipment and almost 100% of high-end medical equipment, the Minister added.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, as per the study of global markets, magnetron holds a huge demand globally, as it is essential for all types of linear accelerators, industrial heating equipment, radar systems, medical applications, NDT & others industries. He said, India would be the third country to achieve this feat. England and Japan holds around 80% - 90 % of the global market. The Minister said, for making Indian Healthcare Ecosystem a robust sector, TDB is providing an impetus to India’s vision of becoming a global manufacturing hub for medical devices.

Magnetron is a type of vacuum tube device. It is compact & low-cost source of microwave power as compared to other similar microwave tubes. It works on a principle of crossed-field device, which uses the motion of electrons in perpendicular electric and magnetic fields to generate microwave radiation, used for generating RF Power Source in Linear Accelerator for Medical, NDT & other allied applications. This technology has been developed indigenously by CSIR-CEERI, and transferred to Panacea for mass production and usage in radiation therapy machine for cancer treatment. 

Sh. Rajesh Kumar Pathak, IP&TAFS, Secretary, TDB, said that “From its inception, TDB is committed to support such innovative/indigenous technologies for mass benefit. TDB supporting Panacea Medical Technologies for development and commercialization of ‘S Band Tunable Magnetron for Particle Accelerators’ will be one step ahead in making cancer treatment more affordable to the common man. Further, we expect many Medtech companies to come forward with more such innovative technologies and manufacture in India at affordable cost to meet our own requirements as well as making it available to the world. Thus, transforming India as the major manufacturing hub of high end medical devices for the world.”

MD of Panacea G.V.Subramanyam said that the company took the challenge in want of further indigenising & lowering the cost of LINAC and approached CSIR-CEERI, Pilani. It acquired 2998 MHz Magnetron technology indigenously developed by CEERI for 2.6 MW S-Band Frequency Tunable Pulse Magnetron, for mass production and usage in radiation therapy machine for cancer treatment.

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