US-based medical device manufacturer ProTom International to set up in Adelaide
DEVICES built by South Australians will be “curing cancer” in the near future, says the boss of a manufacturing company due to set up in the state.
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AN AMERICAN company which makes cancer treatment devices was given $10 million in taxpayer help to set up shop in South Australia - but says it would have done so anyway.
The Advertiser can also confirm that US-based medical device manufacturer ProTom International has previously filed for bankruptcy.
A spokesman said the State Government was aware of that fact and all “due diligence” was done.
ProTom was chosen early last year as the preferred company to provide equipment for a proton therapy research centre to be based at the proposed SAHMRI II building on North Tce.
However, the final contract has not been signed because assessors are having to travel to the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where the only machine ever delivered by ProTom is being installed.
ProTom will move into the Tonsely Innovation District, south of Adelaide, to manufacture and assemble the cutting-edge Radiance 330 Proton Therapy System.
The State Government has given the company $5 million in grants and $5 million in loans.
Asked if his company would have chosen to base its operations here without the government incentive, ProTom CEO Stephen Spotts said: “I believe we would have”.
“If you’re going to make a huge investment ... it is always helpful to make sure that you have a partner.
“We have definitely found a partner in the South Australian Government.”
Mr Spotts said devices built by South Australians will be “curing cancer” in the near future.
“In the not-too-distant future, cancer therapy devices that were made here in South Australia will be curing cancer throughout Australia ... and the Asia Pacific Region,” he declared.
“They will be assembled, tested to clinical perfection, disassembled and shipped to sites all over the Asia Pacific region.”
Work on the ProTom Asia Pacific Centre of Excellence for Proton Therapy at Tonsley will begin later this year be complete next year.
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