Medical equipment supplier Cowealth Medical Co (合富) yesterday said that it received a notice from US-based Accuray Inc to terminate the firms’ cooperation contract to sell the latter’s Cyberknife for tumor treatment in China.
The notice came after Cowealth announced that it would invest US$5 million in US-based ViewRay Inc to acquire a seat on its board and the exclusive rights to sell ViewRay’s tumor treatment devices in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau for the next 10 years starting yesterday. Accuray perceived the move as conflicting with the Taiwanese company’s previous commitment to promote Cyberknife, Cowealth said.
“We do not think the investment conflicts with our commitment to Accuray, since we sell the Cyberknife and ViewRay devices in different regions. We will discuss the issue further with Accuray and take the necessary measures to protect our rights,” Cowealth said in a note yesterday.
Accuray is to send representatives to negotiate over the future maintenance of CyberKnife systems sold by Cowealth, the equipment supplier firm said.
From January through September, Cowealth posted NT$1.99 billion (US$67.3 million) in revenue, of which Cyberknife sales and maintenance accounted for 24 percent, the company said.
“We are facing increasing difficulty acquiring permits from Beijing to sell Cyberknife systems to Chinese hospitals,” Cowealth CEO Lee Duane (李惇) said at an investors’ conference on Nov. 1.
Accuray previously agreed to grant Cowealth exclusive rights to sell the systems until June 30, 2016, the Taiwanese firm said.
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