Varian reports strong orders -- stock jumps

Varian Medical Systems Inc. on Monday announced that demand for its radiotherapy systems has helped to drive strong net order growth in its Oncology Systems business during the fourth fiscal quarter FY04, sending its stock up nearly 20 percent.

According to Varian, it expects that fourth quarter net orders for its Oncology Systems business will show growth in excess of 20 percent over the comparable period last fiscal year, with more than 20 percent growth in North America and growth of more than 15 percent in international markets versus their respective totals for the year-ago period.

Contributing its growth to new products for IGRT (image-guided radiation therapy), Richard M. Levy, chairman and CEO of Varian said, "We now have six on-board imaging systems in clinical use for IGRT treatments and another 16 installations are underway. We are seeing tremendous interest and rapid deployment of this promising technology, which is especially noteworthy at this early stage of its market introduction."

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