Varian Medical Systems

Varian Medical Systems Inc.

Type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: VAR S&P 500 Component
Industry	Medical Technology
Founded	1948 (1948)
Headquarters	Palo Alto, California, U.S.
Key people	Dow R. Wilson, President and CEO
Products	Medical Devices
Revenue	US$ 2,942.897 million (2013) [1] US$ 2,807.015 million (2012) [1]
Operating income	US$ 608.89 million (2013) [1] US$ 594.074 million (2012) [1]
Net income	US$ 438.248 million (2013) [1] US$ 427.049 million (2012) [1]
Total assets	US$ 3,468.474 million (2013) [2] US$ 2,878.726 million (2012) [1]
Total equity	US$ 1,713.847 million (2013) [2] US$ 1,509.776 million (2012) [1]
Number of employees	6,350
Website	www.varian.com

Varian Medical Systems (VAR) of Palo Alto, California, USA, is a leading radiation oncology treatments and software maker. These medical devices include linear accelerators and software for treating cancer and other medical conditions with radiotherapy, radiosurgery, proton therapy, and brachytherapy. The company supplies software for managing comprehensive cancer clinics, radiotherapy centers, and medical oncology practices. Varian is a supplier of tubes and digital detectors for X-ray imaging in medical diagnostics, dentistry, veterinary care, scientific, security, industrial inspection including high-energy X-ray technology for cargo screening. Varian Medical Systems employs approximately 6,350 people at manufacturing sites in North America, Europe, and China and approximately 70 sales and support offices around the world.^[3]

History

Varian was founded in 1948 as Varian Associates by Russell H. Varian, Sigurd F. Varian, William Webster Hansen, and Edward Ginzton to sell the Klystron, the first tube which could generate electromagnetic waves at microwave frequencies, and other electromagnetic equipment.

By 1999, Varian Associates had branched into semiconductor, vacuum tube, and medical device fields. On April 2, 1999 these divisions split to become Varian Semiconductor, Varian, Inc. and Varian Medical Systems.

Corporate affairs

Varian headquarters in Palo Alto

Varian corporate headquarters is in Palo Alto, California. In September 2012, Dow Wilson replaced Timothy Guertin as President and CEO. Guertin had been the CEO since 2006 when he replaced Richard M. Levy, who had been with Varian for 37 years and still serves as chairman of the board of directors. Wilson is a graduate of Brigham Young University, and holds an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Varian operates a corporate philanthropy and charitable giving organization through the Varian Medical Systems Foundation. It operates within the Community Foundation of Silicon Valley (CFSV).

Products

X-ray

The EDGE™ Radiosurgery Suite was launched in 2012. It is described as "a fully integrated, dedicated system for performing advanced radiosurgery using new real-time tumor tracking technology and motion management capabilities." ^[4] The first cancer centers to use the new system were the Champalimaud Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal and Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan.^[5]

Proton Therapy

Varian manufactures the ProBeam Proton Therapy System currently running at RPTC Rinecker Proton Therapy Center in Munich, Germany and Scripps proton-therapy in San Diego, California. These are an all pencil-beam scanning proton therapy system utilizing IMPT video which was developed with PSI of Switzerland. Varian also develops medical software and radiology information system for proton treatment-planning system.

Locations

Varian has facilities in California, Maryland, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brazil, Canada, United Arab Emirates, Australia and Algeria.

Achievements

• 2011: R&D 100 Award and Red dot product design award for TrueBeam system. ^[6][7]
• 2009: Number 12 in the BusinessWeek 50 listing of best performing public corporations ^[8]
• 2007: Number 14 in the BusinessWeek 50 listing of best performing public corporations ^[9]
• 2007, 2008 and 2009: Named one of IndustryWeek's "50 Best Manufacturing Companies" in the U.S.
• 2006: R&D 100 Award ^[10]
• 2006: Forbes Global High Performer^[11]
• 2004: 2005 Forbes Platinum 400 list

Acquired companies

Varian Medical Systems has acquired other companies including Pan-Pacific Enterprises,^[12] ACCEL Instruments,^[13] Bio-Imaging Research, Inc.^[14] Sigma Micro Informatique Conseil,^[15] Argus Software,^[16] Velocity Medical Solutions.^[17] and MeVis Medical Solutions AG ^[18]

1. REDIRECT Winnipeg

Litigation

Free speech

In 1999 Varian Medical Systems, Inc. sued a former employee for defamation in Varian v. Delfino. The terminated employee Dr. Michelangelo Delfino posted numerous messages criticizing the company on the Internet. The case finally settled on undisclosed terms. The lawsuit itself was controversial, heavily publicized, and led to a landmark ruling about California's anti-SLAPP statute. Some market-based workers rights activists uphold Delfino as an example because he mortgaged his house to pay his legal bills related to the lawsuit with Varian. ^[19]

University of Pittsburgh

On April 25, 2012 a US federal judge in Pittsburgh awarded attorney fees, costs, and doubled damages totaling $73.6 million to the University of Pittsburgh after the university won a suit on medical patent infringement grounds against Varian.^[20]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Varian Medical Systems.

• Official website

• • Business data for Varian Medical Systems: Google Finance
  • Yahoo! Finance
  • Reuters
  • SEC filings
• Timothy Guertin - Forbes