Penn plans to build a proton center for cancer treatment at Presbyterian Medical Center

The University of Pennsylvania Health System plans to build its fourth proton beam center for cancer treatment at Presbyterian Medical Center in University City. Penn’s board of trustees approved $39 million for the project in June.

Penn’s Roberts Proton Therapy Center opened in 2010 in the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine next to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. It is so busy that a second facility is needed in University City, Penn officials said.

The $48 million proton center at Lancaster General Health’s cancer center opened in 2022. It has drawn patients from all over central Pennsylvania, Penn officials have said. Penn has owned Lancaster General since 2015. A joint venture between Penn and Virtua Health opened a $45 million proton therapy center in Voorhees in 2023.

The target for opening the proton center at Presbyterian, which will be constructed in a new building near the medical center at 38th and Market Streets, is 2027. The facility will also offer radiation therapy and other related services.

Separately, Penn is building a $295 million cancer center at its Princeton Medical Center in Plainsboro, N.J., which Penn has owned since 2018. Current plans do not call for a proton center in Plainsboro.

Proton beam therapy is in high demand for certain kinds of cancer because protons stop within a target, allowing them to kill a tumor while sparing surrounding tissue. Researchers recently presented evidence from a randomized trial that proton therapy had fewer side effects than intensity-modulated photon therapy for certain head and neck cancers.