Key figures and history

Specialist in medical oncology and radiation therapy Timo Joensuu wished to create a hospital which would be built from the patient’s perspective and would be able to offer everything that a cancer patient might need. Two physicists Pekka Aalto and Harri Puurunen believed in this ambitious project and joined it. This is when Aava Terveyspalvelut became the major investor for Docrates.

Docrates Ltd was founded in 2006 and its actual operations started in the premises of Eira hospital in October 2007 with specialists’ appointments and drug therapy. A number of minor investors also joined the project.

A new building was built specially for cancer care in Ruoholahti, which was opened in April 2009. The opening ceremony was held 24, September 2009. Docrates has offer also radiation therapy and imaging studies among its services from the beginning.

The aim of providing patients with state-of-the-art cancer therapies has guided the cancer center’s operations from the very beginning. Over the years, Docrates has invested in next-generation technology and imaging equipment, which have been designed to meet the demands of cancer diagnostics and individual treatment.

Important milestones

Important milestones reached in the adoption of the latest cancer treatment methods at the hospital include, for example, the first immunotherapy treatment in breast cancer in Finland in 2015, and radiopharmaceutical therapy in treating metastatic prostate cancer was introduced in 2017. Radiopharmaceutical therapy makes it possible to effectively destroy metastases outside the bone structures and in bone metastases, without serious adverse effects.

Docrates is using the latest treatments for breast cancer, such as trastuzumab deruxtecan and sacituzumab govitecan, which prolong survival in patients with advanced breast cancer. These treatment methods also alleviate symptoms and allow for more patients to be treated.

The Chief Clinical Director of Docrates Cancer Center is Juha Kononen, who started in the position in 2021. As the Chief Clinical Director, he is responsible for the clinical operations of the cancer center and, administratively, the physicians and physicists at the cancer center.

Tuomo Alanko, Doctor of Medicine, Chief Physician, Medical Oncology, Specialist in Medical Oncology M.D., Ph.D at Docrates, was nominated as the researcher of the year 2023 at the Clinical Trials Forum. The forum is organised by Pharmaca. Docrates has active research team, which has participated over 60 clinical trials.

Development over the years

– Over the years, we have developed our hospital by expanding as well as through recruiting specialists and investing in state-of-the-art equipment and drug therapies. It is important for us that our patients are required to wait after cancer is suspected or has already been diagnosed, but they have access to thorough examinations and treatment without delay. Treatment follow-up is carried out through a digital service which regularly measures the quality of life. Through our prompt customer service, we aim to minimise the risk of the aggressive cancer spreading, as well as the suffering caused by waiting. The use of our extensive early cancer detection models has considerably increased over the years,” says Ilpo Tolonen, CEO, Docrates Cancer Center.

Docrates expanded the cancer center facilities in 2023. The extension houses facilities for detecting cancer, such as endoscopic services for the diagnostics of stomach cancer, oesophageal cancer and colorectal cancer. In the future, the services of the pathology research laboratory will also move to the extension.

At the beginning in 2024 Docrates is the first service provider in the Nordic region to launch a new experimental alpha radiation treatment for patients with metastatic prostate cancer.

Docrates has treated foreign patients over 10 years

Patients’ freedom to choose their place of treatment has increased because of to the EU Patient Directive. Foreign patients have been treated at Docrates for more than ten years. Docrates has treated almost 2,500 foreign patients from more than 60 countries since 2019. Docrates’ international patients typically arrive from countries such as Sweden, Norway, the Baltic countries, England, the United States, Denmark, Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, Belgium and France.

In 2024 Docrates launched an online appointment booking service to all international customers. In the service, regardless of their country of residence, customers can identify themselves and register as a customer and patient of the cancer center in a strong and secure way.

The feedback from Docrates’ international patients emphasises the cancer center’s comfortable atmosphere as well as its active, service-oriented, unique and individual treatment experience.

Docrates celebrated 15th anniversary in 2022

Docrates 15th anniversary was celebrated in 2022. Docrates Cancer Center has been offering individual and prompt cancer treatment and care already for over 15 years. Over the years, the cancer center has invested in next-generation technology and imaging equipment, which have been designed to meet the demands of cancer diagnostics and individual treatment. At the main entrance of cancer center, there is an artwork designed by Stefan Lindfors (see the image right), which was unveiled at the opening ceremony in 2009.

Today, the cancer center has over 130 employees who enable our patients to receive the best possible treatment with the latest treatment methods and meet each patient as an individual, one step ahead – as a person next to a person.

Docrates has 19,000 customer visits annually