Asian Hospital and Medical Center (AHMC), a Board of Investments (BOI)-registered enterprise, marked the treatment of its first 100 cancer patients using the country’s first CyberKnife robotic radiosurgery system.
Approved by the BOI in 2025, the CyberKnife project is a high‑impact investment that supports the agency’s mandate to promote strategic and transformative initiatives, particularly those that improve access to advanced, quality healthcare.
BOI Executive Director for Investments Promotion Services, Evariste M. Cagatan highlighted the value of the project. “This is exactly the kind of investment BOI aims to nurture, projects that are strategic, uplifting, and clearly life-changing. By supporting CyberKnife through government incentives, we help ensure that more Filipinos benefit from advanced cancer treatments that were once accessible only abroad,” she said.
AHMC’s Asian Cancer Institute (ACI) has now treated more than 100 patients through CyberKnife’s non‑invasive, AI‑guided platform, with most completing therapy in just one to five sessions and returning home the same day.
“Reaching more than 100 CyberKnife patients means more than 100 lives touched by a gentler, more precise way of fighting cancer, right here at our own doorstep. It signals that what was once thought possible only abroad is now a reality stationed here,” ACI Executive Director Dr. Corazon Ngelangel said, emphasizing the milestone’s human impact.
“Our gratitude to the BOI – your tax exemption support is more than a fiscal incentive; it is an investment in Filipino lives, in strengthening patients’ hope, making more accessible precision medicine to the Filipino,” she added, expressing appreciation for BOI’s support.
The project’s BOI‑supported incentives have helped strengthen affordability and expand access to treatment by reducing operational costs and supporting ACI’s continued collaboration with PhilHealth, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and the Department of Health (DOH) Medical Assistance for Indigent Patients.
Of the first 100 patients, 100 percent relied on PhilHealth supplemented by out-of-pocket (OOP), while 13 percent received other government medical assistance without OOP. There were 46 patients treated for primary tumors of the brain (45.6%), liver (15.2%), pancreas (15.2%), lung (8.7%), prostate (8.7%), and head-neck (6.5%). There were 54 patients treated for metastatic lesions of the brain (57.4%), spine (18.5%), lung (14.8%), and others (9.2%). Despite the complexity of these cases, Cyberknife stereotactic radiotherapy has demonstrated favorable clinical outcomes in 72 percent and 76 percent of the primary tumors and metastatic lesions, respectively.
“Bringing CyberKnife to the Philippines required courage and a deep belief that our people deserve the best possible cancer care. Reaching 100 patients affirms that this investment, supported by the Philippine government and embraced by our medical teams, was the right step for the country,” said AHMC President and CEO Dr. Beaver Tamesis, who led the institution’s decision to acquire the first CyberKnife in the country.
“It proves that when we take bold, future‑focused decisions, we can bring world‑class, life‑saving technology closer to Filipino families who need it most,” Dr. Tamesis stressed.
CyberKnife is a non‑invasive, real‑time, image‑guided radiation system that can treat a wide range of cancers in as little as 15 to 20 minutes. Its advanced tumor‑tracking technology delivers highly targeted radiation with sub‑millimeter accuracy, minimizing damage to healthy tissue and making treatment safer, faster, and painless. As the only system of its kind in the Philippines, CyberKnife offers an efficient, surgery‑free option that enables many patients to resume their normal activities immediately after treatment.
As BOI continues to champion inclusive and high‑impact investments, the CyberKnife project demonstrates how government incentives empower the private sector to bring frontier medical technologies into the country and underscores what strategic public‑private collaboration can achieve for the Filipino people.
