Rutherford Health was a private
oncology provider founded by Mike Moran and
Karol Sikora
Karol Sikora (born 17 June 1948) is a British physician specialising in oncology, who has been described as a leading world authority on cancer. He was a founder and medical director of Rutherford Health, a company that provided proton therapy se ...
in 2015, with investment from
Neil Woodford and the Wales Life Sciences Investment Fund, to develop
proton therapy
In medicine, proton therapy, or proton radiotherapy, is a type of particle therapy that uses a beam of protons to irradiate diseased tissue, most often to treat cancer. The chief advantage of proton therapy over other types of external beam ra ...
facilities in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Until 2019 it was known as Proton Partners International.
It went into liquidation in June 2022. According to major shareholder
Schroders UK Public Private Trust, the company had pursued a "flawed expansion strategy ... from 2015 to 2019" leading to "a high and unsustainable cash burn".
Proton therapy
Rutherford Health ran proton therapy centres in
Newport, Wales,
Bedlington, Northumberland
Bedlington is a town and former civil parish in Northumberland, England, with a population of 18,470 measured at the 2011 Census. Bedlington is an ancient market town, with a rich history of industry and innovative residents. Located roughly ...
,
Liverpool and
Reading, Berkshire. Equipment and services were provided by
Ion Beam Applications, Philips and Elekta. The Newport site was the first to open with construction starting in 2016. The Reading site cost £30 million and work began in December 2016, before opening in October 2018. The Bedlington site was opened in 2018.
Funding included £10 million from the Wales Life Sciences Investmunt Fund in 2016, as well as continued investment of over £100 million through fund manager Neil Woodford. The
Wales Audit Office criticised handling of the Wales Life Sciences Investment Fund due to Woodford being the company's main shareholder. Proton Partners secured £30 million from
Shawbrook Bank in January 2016 which it later repaid in full in 2019. The Northumberland site benefited from a grant of £450,000 from the Let’s Grow regional growth fund programme.
In November 2016 Proton Partners purchased the Gulf International Cancer Centre in
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area.
...
as part of plans to create the first proton beam therapy treatment centre in the United Arab Emirates. Work began in 2019.
In March 2017, the company announced the development of its fourth UK centre to be built by
Interserve on the
Knowledge Quarter site in
Liverpool The centre was completed in 2020 and is now fully operational. In 2018 it was announced that work had started on a headquarters for their Rutherford Diagnostics subsidiary. The building was to serve as a research centre, sited next to their Liverpool cancer treatment centre.
Other activities
Proton Partners International incorporated five companies in total, including Rutherford Estates, Rutherford Innovations and Rutherford Diagnostics. In July 2020, the Company launched a membership scheme, "Rutherford Direct" aimed at providing a "cancer only plan" to companies and individuals as an insurance in case of a cancer diagnosis.
In June 2020, Rutherford Health partnered with Panthera Biopartners to set up a network of
clinical trial sites. Under the name "Panthera@theRutherford", clinical oncology trials were to be undertaken at Rutherford sites, utilising Panthera's "clinical trial management experience".
In September 2021
Michael Richards
Michael Anthony Richards (born July 24, 1949) is an American actor, writer, television producer, and comedian best known for playing Cosmo Kramer on the television sitcom '' Seinfeld''. He began his career as a stand-up comedian, first enterin ...
opened the first
community diagnostic centre in England, on the outskirts of
Taunton, to be operated by Rutherford Health in partnership with
Somerset NHS Foundation Trust. The trust was to pay a "tariff price" for the service and was reimbursed for the use of its staff.
See also
*
Private healthcare in the United Kingdom
References
{{reflist
Companies of Wales
Health care companies of the United Kingdom