Siemens Healthineers acquired Varian this April to join forces and develop cancer treatment solutions through the power of AI and automation. The company leaders in Finland share their thoughts on cancer care continuum, next level AI and the collaboration possibilities in Helsinki’s health ecosystem.
As Siemens Healthineers completed its acquisition of Varian in April 2021, a truly holistic operator was born in the field of international healthcare. For Finland, this means that two highly capable teams are able to come together – and strive for a common goal.
Jarno Eskelinen, Managing Director at Siemens Healthineers Finland, Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania, and Kari Toimela, Managing Director, Varian Medical Systems Finland, are excited about the new entity.
“Having two industry powerhouses join forces in this manner is significant globally, but also locally. In Finland, we have the culture and the drive to accomplish a lot via collaboration,” says Jarno Eskelinen, calling the uniting of the two teams in Finland “really exceptional”. Siemens Healthineers Finland has 130 employees and Varian has 282 employees working in Finland.
Kari Toimela agrees: the two teams complement each other very well and are operating on the same wavelength from the beginning. In Finland, 250 Varian’s R&D professionals join the ranks of the company.
“We believe that collaboration will come very naturally for us,” Toimela says.
“We’re moving towards a more individualised, more accurate cancer treatment. By pooling our resources, I’m confident we can really make a difference.”
Jarno Eskelinen, Managing Director at Siemens Healthineers Finland, Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania
Siemens Healthineers
Better handle on cancer care continuum
And what’s in the cards for the new-and-improved Siemens Healthineers in the near future? – The company is looking to accelerate its impact on global healthcare, establishing a strong partnership with customers and patients along the entire cancer care continuum.
With Varian onboard, Siemens Healthineers now has the most comprehensive portfolio in the medtech sector. Siemens Healthineers is creating a unique, highly integrated portfolio of imaging, laboratory diagnostics, artificial intelligence and treatment for the global fight against cancer with significant potential for value creation.
In Finland, the fruits of collaboration are many: Kari Toimela points out that when you link the expertise of Siemens Healthineers and Varian, the treatment of cancer is likely to take great strides forward.
“We can use AI and automatisation to expand the access to radiation therapy in developing countries, for instance,” Toimela believes.
“When you link the expertise of Siemens Healthineers and Varian, the treatment of cancer is likely to take great strides forward.”
Kari Toimela, Managing Director, Varian Medical Systems Finland
Varian
Next level AI
With Varian, Siemens Healthineers is expected to leverage AI-assisted analytics to advance the development and delivery of data-driven precision care and to redefine cancer diagnosis, care delivery and post-treatment survivorship.
Through early and accurate detection – as well as more efficient diagnosis, increased treatment quality and access – Siemens Healthineers will support and accelerate Varian’s mission to reduce uncertainty for cancer patients and increase the level of cancer survivorship.
“We’re moving towards a more individualised, more accurate cancer treatment all the time – and by pooling our resources, I’m confident we can really make a difference,” says Jarno Eskelinen.© Siemens Healthineers
Joining forces also opens up whole new possibilities for intensified collaboration with the health ecosystem in Finland.
Win-win-win in the making
Furthermore, Eskelinen and Toimela report that the customers of the two companies are happy about the move as well.
“Customers have been reaching out to congratulate us, seeing that we can achieve bigger, better things together,” Eskelinen remarks.
Joining forces also opens up whole new possibilities for intensified collaboration with such actors as HUS Helsinki University Hospital, the largest hospital district in Finland. The latest collaboration effort was announced in May, as Metropolia University of Applied Sciences and Siemens Healthineers signed a letter of intent on health and medical technology. The aim is to push development and innovation co-operation between Metropolia and Siemens Healthineers to promote sustainable well-being.
Eskelinen credits Health Capital Helsinki for initiating the contact between the two parties.
“Health Capital Helsinki had a significant role in making this happen,” he says.
Ecosystem excellence
Another great example of a “meeting of the minds” is the CleverHealth Network, established in 2017. CleverHealth Network is a health technology ecosystem in which companies and healthcare experts develop better treatment solutions for Finns and successful export products for companies. Product and service innovations are based on HUS Helsinki University Hospital’s extensive health data and the leading expertise of clinicians.
Kari Toimela explains that Varian ventured into the network having purchased Finnish Noona Healthcare three years ago – and he confesses to being very impressed by the way the ecosystem is shaping out to be.
“The future of cancer treatment lies with networks such as this one,” Toimela believes.
CleverHealth Network’s vision is to be an internationally renowned ecosystem, which processes and cultivates health and welfare data, as well as a forerunner in the healthcare revolution, capable of creating dozens of world-class solutions related to the cultivation of healthcare data.
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Siemens Healthineers AG is a leading medical technology company headquartered in Erlangen, Germany. Siemens Healthineers enables healthcare providers worldwide through its regional companies to increase value by empowering them on their journey towards expanding precision medicine, transforming care delivery, improving the patient experience, and digitalizing healthcare. Following the acquisition of Varian Medical Systems, Inc. the company has approximately 66,000 employees worldwide.
Varian, a Siemens Healthineers company, envisions “a world without fear of cancer”. For more than 70 years, Varian has developed, built, and delivered innovative cancer care technologies and solutions for its clinical partners around the globe to help them treat millions of patients each year.
