Huiheng Medical plans BR plant to build device

• By TED GRIGGS
• Advocate business writer
• Published: Oct 7, 2009 - Page: 6B

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Huiheng Medical Inc., of China, plans to build a plant to manufacture a radiation treatment device in Baton Rouge that could employ as many as 300 people, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer said Tuesday.

Xiaobing Hui said through an interpreter that his company has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve the Whole Body Gamma Knife and expects to begin building the proposed plant in mid-2010

Huiheng Medical would also make Baton Rouge its North American home office, marketing and service center, and a research and development site, said Eugene Ji, a Baton Rouge businessman who serves as Mayor-President Melvin “Kip” Holden’s liaison for economic development affairs with China.

The manufacturing and assembly plant would create as many as 300 jobs paying as much as $75,000 per year, Ji said. The annual revenue from sales of the Stereotactic Gamma-Ray Treatment system is estimated at $300 million.

The plant would cost an estimated $10 million to $20 million, Ji said. Huiheng has several possible sites and expects to announce a decision by the end of the year.

Huiheng said it is also applying for a U.S. patent for the device, which is already used in many hospitals worldwide to treat cancer patients.

Ji said the cancer-treatment devices are now assembled in China from components made in that country, as well as Europe, Asia and the United States.

Huiheng wants to build a plant in Baton Rouge in part because the company is not just looking for inexpensive labor, Ji said. Huiheng’s devices require a lot of expertise from many industries, and that sort of expertise is available here.

The company also hopes to capitalize on the LSU medical physics program, which trains students in the use of these types of cancer treatment systems, Ji said. Huiheng would also like to do clinical research trials for the device with Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center.

Amy Benton, a spokeswoman for Mary Bird, said the center congratulates the mayor on his vision for Baton Rouge and looks forward to working with Huiheng to find synergistic opportunities.

The center has invested millions of dollars in devices made by TomoTherapy and BrainLab and has research partnerships with both firms.

Huiheng made the announcement after touring Mary Bird Perkins Cancer and Pennington Cancer Center at the Baton Rouge General Medical Center.

“They (Huiheng) … chose Baton Rouge because Holden approached Huiheng last April during an economic development trip to China.