Exporting hope

From Swedish technology to global patient impact

Swedish medical technology company Elekta has spent more than half a century transforming cancer care through innovation. Today, the company is a global leader in precision radiotherapy, exporting advanced treatment systems to more than 120 countries. Behind that international success lies not only world-class Swedish engineering, but also a financing ecosystem that helps make life-saving technology accessible to healthcare providers around the world.

Founded in 1972, Elekta has built its reputation on developing increasingly precise technologies for cancer treatment. The company’s breakthrough innovation, the Leksell Gamma Knife®, pioneered non-invasive radiosurgery for brain tumours and other neurological conditions. Developed from research at Stockholm’s Karolinska Hospital, the technology uses hundreds of finely focused beams of radiation to target diseased tissue with sub-millimetre accuracy, eliminating the need to open the skull. The result is shorter recovery times, fewer complications and highly effective treatment while preserving healthy surrounding tissue.

More than two million patients have now been treated using Gamma Knife technology, which is installed in around 360 hospitals and specialist centres across more than 60 countries. Every day, more than 450 patients worldwide receive Gamma Knife treatment.

Meeting rising demand in emerging markets

The company’s broader portfolio of linear accelerators and Gamma Knife systems now reaches healthcare providers on every continent, with 99 per cent of production exported from Sweden. Demand continues to grow, particularly in emerging economies where the burden of cancer is rising rapidly.

“Cancer incidence continues to increase as populations age and is on track to overtake cardiovascular disease as the world’s leading cause of death,” says Therese Lindé, Government Affairs at Elekta. “At the same time, radiotherapy is advancing at an extraordinary pace, with treatments becoming increasingly sophisticated and precise. For many healthcare systems, access to modern radiotherapy is not simply a matter of medical progress. It determines whether more patients can receive timely treatment and whether disparities in cancer care between countries and regions can be reduced.”

Yet advanced radiotherapy equipment represents a major capital investment. For hospitals and public healthcare providers in many emerging markets, obtaining competitive long-term financing can be just as challenging as acquiring the technology itself.

This is where Sweden’s export finance system plays a critical role.

Export finance makes advanced care more accessible

Elekta has long worked with the Swedish Export Credit Agency (EKN), whose supplier credit guarantees reduce financial risk and enable competitive financing solutions for customers around the world. By making large investments more manageable, EKN helps accelerate access to advanced cancer treatment in markets where financing constraints might otherwise delay or prevent procurement.

“EKN has extensive expertise in assessing different markets and financing opportunities,” says Caroline Granquist, Head of Customer Finance at Elekta. “That expertise is invaluable to us, particularly when entering new markets.”

EKN also works closely with other Swedish export promotion organisations, including the Swedish Export Credit Corporation (SEK), Swedfund, Business Sweden and Swecare, creating an integrated ecosystem that helps Swedish medical innovations reach global markets.

A Swedish innovation that changed cancer treatment

For Elekta, the benefits extend beyond export growth. The combination of technological leadership, clinical validation and a well-functioning export finance system allows advanced cancer treatment to reach hospitals that might otherwise struggle to afford it.

“This support is extremely important,” says Granquist. “Ultimately, it enables us to strengthen the global competitiveness of both Sweden and the European Union while helping more healthcare providers invest in modern cancer treatment. We see significant potential for continued growth in the years ahead.”

For patients, the impact is measured less in export statistics than in lives improved. Swedish innovation, backed by Swedish export finance, is helping to ensure that cutting-edge cancer treatment is no longer confined to the world’s wealthiest healthcare systems, but increasingly reaches patients wherever the need is greatest.