The UK is to open its first three proton beam therapy centres after cancer-stricken five-year-old Ashya King made a miracle recovery after receiving the treatment. Cardiff-based Proton Partners International Ltd, is to open the treatment centres, which will be available to NHS cancer patients, in Cardiff, London and Northumberland by 2017, with the first in the Welsh capital being operational by next year. The announcement comes just weeks after the parents of brain cancer sufferer Ashya told of how he was given the 'all-clear' after receiving proton bean therapy at a centre in Prague. Scroll down for video . Five-year-old Ashya King, pictured in October, who suffered from brain cancer but has recently been given the all-clear after receiving proton beam therapy . Three centres in the UK in Cardiff, London and Northumberland, are set to open offering proton beam therapy, which Ashya, pictured, received . Both Brett and Naghmeh King sparked an international manhunt last year after taking their son out of hospital in Southampton, without doctors' consent. Mr and Mrs King had wanted their son to have the cutting-edge therapy instead of conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Fearing that Ashya would be taken away from them and given the treatment, the family fled to Spain before travelling to the Czech Republic to the Proton Therapy Centre. Now, a group called Proton Partners International has now been formed in the UK following discussions between Professor Sir Chris Evans, the life sciences entrepreneur and UK life sciences and healthcare investors. They have committed almost £100million equity finance into the company. Professor Gordon McVie, senior consultant at the European Institute of Oncology, has been appointed chairman of the group, and Professor Karol Sikora has agreed to become chief medical adviser to the company, alongside a range of renowned cancer and healthcare experts. Ashya, with his parents Brett and Naghmeh. The Kings defiantly fled to Spain in a bid to get Ashya to the Proton Therapy Centre in Prague and protect him from the devastating side effects of NHS treatment . Professor McVie said: 'This is an exciting and important development of the provision of cancer treatment in the UK. As things stand, patients who benefit from this treatment have to go abroad for treatment, often at great expense to the NHS. 'The creation of these centres will go a long way to ensuring the very best of treatment is available in the UK.' While Sir Chris added: 'We are delighted that the UK's first centre will be based in Cardiff and Wales Life Sciences Investment Fund is proud to support this breakthrough. While conventional radiotherapy uses high energy beams of radiation to destroy cancerous cells, often damaging surrounding tissue, proton beam therapy aims radiation directly at the tumour. Because it is so highly targeted it means it can avoid healthy tissue, particularly tissues and organs behind the tumour. While radiotherapy can lead to side effects such as nausea and can sometimes disrupt how some organs function, proton beam therapy has a lower risk of side effects. This means it is effective for treating cancer that affects critical areas, such as brain cancer. However, Cancer Research UK estimates that only one in 100 people would be suitable for proton beam therapy and there are also concerns that the long-term impact of the nascent procedure is not yet known. The only proton beam facility currently in operation is at the Clatterbridge Centre for Cancer NHS Foundation Trust in the Wirral, Merseyside, which delivers 'low energy' therapy for rare cancers around the eye. The NHS currently pays for those deemed appropriate for proton beam therapy to go to the United States for treatment. They must be assessed by a panel who may decide patients are not suitable if there is unlikely to be a clinical benefit from the treatment. More than 400 patients have been sent abroad since 2008 - most of these children - at an average cost of £100,000 per patient. 'There are more than 150,000 people treated for cancer each year in the UK and the demand for treatment is growing. 'It is anticipated that NHS demand for proton beam therapy abroad will reach 1,500 patients by 2017. Proton Partners will be able to play a leading part in helping meet demand in the UK as of next year.' In addition to state of the art Proton Partners' treatment services, the Cardiff centre will provide conventional radiotherapy, chemotherapy and supportive care. Proton beam therapy is a highly-targeted type of radiotherapy that can treat hard-to-reach cancers, such as spinal tumours, with a lower risk of damaging the surrounding tissue and causing side effects. The Government has announced that it is to create two NHS proton beam therapy units which will open in 2018. The Kings faced every parent's worst nightmare when their young son was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour after suffering a series of mystery symptoms. But the family's own research into his condition led them to question the need for normal NHS radiotherapy - which would risk massive damage to healthy brain tissue and lead to lifelong disabilities. And despite threats to revoke their parental rights unless they went along with the therapy, the Kings defiantly fled to Spain in a bid to get Ashya to the Proton Therapy Centre in Prague and protect him from the devastating side effects of NHS treatment. They were arrested by European authorities and banned from seeing their sick son, with a High Court judge only approving the move to Prague after they had been released. When he finally arrived at the centre in September last year, Ashya was so sick he was unable to move and had to be fed by tubes. But in October, he was pictured smiling and waving to cameras, thrilled at the prospect of returning to the family holiday home in Malaga, Spain, and finishing his treatment there with his parents and older brother Naveed. Since then, he has continued to make encouraging progress and is enjoying a more normal life. However, despite the treatment and his recovery, Ashya's parents say they fear their children will be taken into care if they return to the UK, his grandmother said last month.
The three centres are planned for Cardiff, London and Northumberland . They will offer proton beam therapy to private and NHS cancer patients . Hoped the first centre in Cardiff will be up and running by next year . Ashya King, five, made a 'miracle recovery' after receiving the therapy to treat a brain tumour .