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Varian Medical (VAR) Merges With Brazil MOH to Fight Cancer

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In a bid to make quality radiotherapy treatment readily accessible, Varian Medical Systems, Inc. recently announced a software technology training and education cooperation agreement with the Brazil Ministry of Health (MOH), and seven universities and science and technology institutions (ICTs) in Brazil. This will enable the company to fight cancer treatment in Brazil and across Latin America.

Following the announcement, Varian Medical’s share prices inched up 0.3% to $118.27 at closing. This is likely to provide a further cushion to the company’s shares which have gained 25% compared with the industry’s decline of 1.1%, in a year’s time.

The participating ICTs were selected by Varian Medical on the basis of criteria like candidate interviews, history of successful projects, project management expertise, and proposed team member experience. The company’s global engineering teams in Switzerland, Finland and the United States will train researchers of the selected ICTs from June 2018.

The California-based provider of radiotherapy and proton therapy will, thus, be able to fortify its international position in expanding the knowledge of radiation therapy technology and software.

Meanwhile, in Korea, Varian Medical’s flagship HyperArc High Definition Radiotherapy (HDRT) will be used to treat patients with brain cancer. HyperArc is a high-definition radiotherapy technology which provides an intracranial radiosurgery solution, capitalizing on the unique capabilities of Varian Medical's TrueBeam and EDGE treatment systems. It is supported by the company’s Eclipse treatment planning software.

Varian Medical — The Radiotherapy Magnate

Varian Medical has made noteworthy progress in the radiotherapy niche. Notably, the company’s Halcyon radiotherapy treatment system has been designed to offer cost-effective cancer care worldwide, while the coveted HyperArc platform is designed to treat multiple metastases brain cancer cases and continues to witness strong demand.

In the last reported quarter, Halcyon platform witnessed 81 total orders, with the majority from greenfield sites. Since its inception, Halcyon has seen more than 40% orders from emerging markets.

Furthermore, in Europe, Middle East, India and Africa geographies, the company’s revenues grew 44% and 29% in constant currency, respectively.

Market Prospects

Per a research by Markets and Markets, the global radiotherapy market is projected to reach $9.47 billion by 2022 from $6.81 billion in 2017, at a CAGR of 6.8%. The market is expanding at a healthy pace on account of growing number of cancer cases and rise in sophistication of novel treatment procedures.

Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks

Varian Medical currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Some other top-ranked stocks in the broader medical space are ABIOMED, Inc. , Genomic Health, Inc. and Intuitive Surgical (ISRG - Free Report) .

Abiomed has an estimated long-term earnings growth rate of 27%. The stock sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Genomic Health has an expected earnings growth rate of 187.5%. The stock flaunts a Zacks Rank of 1.

Intuitive Surgical has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 12.1% and sports a Zacks Rank #1.

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