Saturday, September 15, 2001

City aids new Shands cancer center

By Christopher Calnan
Times-Union business writer

The Jacksonville Economic Development Commission on Tuesday approved the transfer of city property and a $15 million loan to the University of Florida to build a proton beam cancer therapy center at Shands Jacksonville that would be only the third of its kind in the United States.

The University of Florida Health Services Inc. expects to start construction of the four-story $27 million facility on 2.25 acres of city-owned property at the 10th and 11th streets.

UF, which operates Shands Jacksonville, would build the center and lease it to the Proton Therapy Corporation of America-Florida, said Paul Krutko, the JEDC's senior director of development services.

The center will create 119 jobs when it's completed.

Proton therapy, which is only available at the Loma Linda University Medical Center in California and the Massachusetts General Hospital, is different from conventional radiation treatment because it doesn't damage normal tissue surrounding cancerous tumors.

The therapy, which costs $15,000 to $18,000, is most commonly used to treat eye disease, and prostate, lung and brain cancers, said C. Craig Tisher, senior associate dean at Florida State's College of Medicine.

"Any disease that can be treated with conventional radiation can be treated better with proton therapy," he said.

About 55 percent of the patients will come from outside the area.

The state is expected to award an $11 million grant for the project, and PTCA would invest $65 million.

The property, which is now leased to Shands Jacksonville, is valued at $560,000, Krutko said.