Toronto-based medical device company, Profound Medical Group has inked a sales and marketing agreement with Philips Healthcare to advance the commercial launch of TULSA-PRO, Profound Medical's transurethral system to ablate targeted prostate tissue.

TULSA stands for transurethral ultrasound ablation and the technology combines real-time MR imaging with transurethral therapeutic, robotically-driven ultrasound and closed-loop thermal feedback control. All of which, the company says, provides a highly precise and patient-tailored prostate cancer treatment

According to Profound Medical's website, the system ablates the whole prostate gland, from the inside out, in a single session. A continuous volume of thermal ablation is delivered in less than 40 minutes, depending upon the size of the prostate, and the patient goes home within 24 hours of the procedure.
"Our agreement with Philips will enable us to increase our reach of this unique technology to more clinicians and their patients requiring prostate care," said Steve Plymale, CEO, Profound Medical Corp. "I am convinced that our TULSA technology will be a valuable addition to Philips' expanding interventional oncology portfolio."

In July of 2015, the companies issued an agreement stating Profound's proprietary technology would be supported on Philips' Ingenia and Achieva 3T MR systems, calling the transurethral ablation system a complement to Philips’ solutions covering the various stages of prostate cancer care.

“Our collaboration with Profound Medical in MRI-guided therapy further extends our portfolio of treatment technologies that we can offer to advance prostate cancer care," said Christopher Busch, General Manager MR Therapy at Philips, at that time.

The system received CE mark on April 11. Later that month ResoFus Aloma, a treatment center in Barcelona, became the first facility to purchase the TULSA-PRO system. As a result of ResoFus Alomar’s acquisition of a Siemens Skyra system, the center has the capacity to start performing the TULSA procedure in the very near future, according to a statement announcing the purchase.

In early March, Profound announced a strategic agreement with Siemens Healthcare enabling the MR OEM's portfolio to be utilized with the TULSA-PRO system. Siemens and Profound stated they would each invest approximately $2,000,000 in marketing support of a successful launch of TULSA-PRO, and have been collaborating since 2011.

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