Advanced Oncotherapy - LIGHT accelerator fully operational

Advanced Oncotherapy

27/09/2022 10:30

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RNS Number : 8456A  Advanced Oncotherapy PLC  27 September 2022

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27 September 2022

 

ADVANCED ONCOTHERAPY PLC

("Advanced Oncotherapy" or the "Company")

 

Advanced Oncotherapy's LIGHT accelerator fully operational, achieving a 230
MeV beam

 

Significant milestone validates and de-risks the Company's first commercial
LIGHT machine

 

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, the Company's clinical
partner for this LIGHT machine, will now commission the treatment room
following a pathway common in the proton therapy industry

 

First patient anticipated to be treated in H2 2023

 

LIGHT system expected to play a key role in 'democratising' the proton therapy
market and addressing a significant unmet need

 

Advanced Oncotherapy (AIM:AVO), the developer of LIGHT, the next-generation
proton therapy system for cancer treatment, is pleased to announce that its
LIGHT(1) accelerator has successfully generated a proton beam at 230
megaelectron volts ("MeV"), the energy required to treat deep-seated tumours
at a depth of 32cm, at its assembly site in Daresbury, Cheshire, UK.

 

LIGHT is the first linear proton therapy system dedicated to the treatment of
tumours where the proton beam is generated using linear acceleration, as
opposed to traditional proton therapy systems which use a cyclotron to
generate the beam. This is the most significant milestone in the Company's
history and represents the work undertaken by Advanced Oncotherapy in a
variety of complex scientific disciplines (including but not limited to the
fields of physics, engineering and medicine) resulting in the development of a
novel proton therapy system. The Company believes that the LIGHT system's
small size and other unique characteristics (as outlined in the Note to
Editors below) will make the treatment modality more accessible and affordable
('democratising') to cancer patients around the world whose tumours have been
shown to respond to this therapy.

 

The Company's clinical partner, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation
Trust ("UHB"), will now begin the commissioning process for the treatment
room, with the aim of treating the first patient in the second half of 2023 at
the assembly site in Daresbury. This will use a pathway followed by all proton
therapy systems as part of the certification process.

 

Upcoming development milestones to be achieved in collaboration with UHB
include:

 

(i)         patient positioning and imaging system calibration;

(ii)         approval of the patient treatment room in Daresbury in
accordance with UHB guidance and requirements;

(iii)        UK Health Research Authority ethical approval; and

(iv)        end-to-end clinical test acceptance.

 

Together with UHB and Clarivate, a global analytics company, the Company
continues to define the clinical protocol for treating the first patients with
the LIGHT system. This has been conducted in close co-ordination with the US
Food and Drug Administration ("FDA"), the UK Medicines and Healthcare products
Regulatory Agency ("MHRA") and the European Notified Body, which the Company
consults with on a regular basis.

 

The Company believes the LIGHT machine represents a lower cost option for the
provision of proton therapy, making it more widely available to patients that
need it. There are currently 114 proton beam therapy centres globally, meaning
that only an estimated 87,000 cancer patients can be treated in a year, at a
cost that is often out of reach of individual patients and unsustainable for
healthcare systems. The Company believes that in the next twenty years the
industry will need more than 10,000 additional proton therapy treatment rooms
to be constructed to meet global demand, representing a 50-fold increase over
the current global capacity.

 

Advanced Oncotherapy continues to progress its commercial pipeline and is
exploring additional opportunities for the sale or lease of LIGHT machines to
healthcare providers to aid in this significant unmet need. Ongoing work to
optimise the Company's machine installation process following completion of
the first operational LIGHT machine is anticipated to reduce manufacturing
timelines for future LIGHT systems. The Company has already established
partnerships with key customers including the London Clinic, Saba Partners and
the Mediterranean Hospital in Cyprus, and, in addition to advancing these
established partnerships, the Company anticipates today's validation of the
LIGHT system to prompt further commercial momentum.

 

The Company intends to hold an investor day in October and further details
will be provided in due course.

 

Dr. Michael Sinclair, Executive Chairman of Advanced Oncotherapy, said:

 

"We are excited to announce that our first LIGHT accelerator is now fully
operational with a 230 MeV beam - a significant milestone in the Company's
history, which marks the start of a new era for Advanced Oncotherapy and
potentially the proton therapy market more broadly. There is currently a
significant unmet medical need in the treatment of cancer and with this latest
achievement we are a step closer towards achieving our mission of
democratising proton therapy.

 

"We are hopeful that today's validation of the LIGHT system will prompt
further commercial momentum and anticipate this to accelerate the execution of
our commercial pipeline, and we look forward to providing further updates on
this in due course. We look forward to moving towards the next stage of this
project which will be led by our clinical partner UHB and use a pathway
followed by all proton therapy systems as part of the certification process.

 

"On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank all our employees, suppliers
and partners involved in this revolutionary project for their efforts and
dedication towards the completion of our first machine. In addition, I would
like to thank all our shareholders for supporting us and for their loyalty
over the years."

 

Professor Steve Myers, Executive Chairman of ADAM S.A., added:

 

"After 20 years of research at CERN and ADAM, I am delighted to witness the
application of this technology into the first commercial LIGHT machine
operating at 230 MeV, a milestone which demonstrates that our unique
technology works, and we are now keen to progress with our aim of making
proton therapy available for many more patients."

 

- ENDS -

 

 

 Advanced Oncotherapy plc                                  www.avoplc.com (http://www.avoplc.com)
 Dr. Michael Sinclair, Executive Chairman                  Tel: +44 (0) 20 3617 8728
 Nicolas Serandour, CEO

 Allenby Capital Limited (Nomad and Joint Broker)
 Nick Athanas / Piers Shimwell (Corporate Finance)         Tel: +44 (0) 20 3328 5656

 Amrit Nahal / Matt Butlin (Sales and Corporate Broking)

 SI Capital Ltd (Joint Broker)
 Nick Emerson                                              Tel: +44 (0) 1483 413 500
 Jon Levinson                                              Tel: +44 (0) 20 3871 4066

 FTI Consulting (Financial PR & IR)                        advancedoncotherapy@fticonsulting.com
                                                           (mailto:advancedoncotherapy@fticonsulting.com)
 Simon Conway / Rob Winder                                 Tel: +44 (0) 20 3727 1000

 

Notes to Editors

 

(1) Linac Image Guided Hadron Technology

 

Background on the LIGHT system

 

LIGHT is a high frequency full-linear proton accelerator, developed by
Advanced Oncotherapy, based on pioneering science from the European
Organization for Nuclear Research ("CERN") and Applications of Detector and
Accelerators to Medicine ("ADAM S.A.") in Switzerland.

 

The LIGHT system offers several advantages in comparison to circular proton
therapy systems. Instead of accelerating protons in a spiral as is the case
with cyclotrons, LIGHT speeds up the protons in a straight line. Protons are
accelerated in a series of accelerating modules that can be individually
switched on or off, a purely electronic process that is designed to be carried
out at up to 200 times a second. The energy setting - relevant for determining
the depth at which radiation is deposited - is achieved without the need to
use mechanical absorbers, a major source of stray radiation that must be
contained through large and expensive shielding. In addition, the LIGHT system
allows for an ultra-fast delivery of radiation into tumours, which is 100-fold
quicker than competing systems. The operational accelerator has been designed
to continuously vary the energy levels of the proton beam, from 70 MeV to 230
MeV, in only five milliseconds.

 

Advanced Oncotherapy's LIGHT system is significantly smaller than traditional
cyclotron-based proton therapy machines and its versatility and technical
properties are expected to have a major impact on the proton therapy market,
both in terms of clinical efficacy and affordability. LIGHT has been designed
to minimise the costs of setting up and running a proton therapy centre, as it
is modular and can be easily installed directly into clinical facilities. The
modularity of the LIGHT system also brings additional benefits for customers
in the context of facilitating high-volume production and optimising future
costs as well as funding the acquisition of the equipment and reducing the
upfront capital requirements.

 

About Advanced Oncotherapy Plc

 

Advanced Oncotherapy, a UK headquartered company with offices in London,
Geneva, The Netherlands and in the USA, is a provider of particle therapy with
protons that harnesses the best in modern technology. Advanced Oncotherapy's
team "ADAM," based in Geneva, focuses on the development of a proprietary
proton accelerator called, Linac Image Guided Hadron Technology (LIGHT).
LIGHT's compact configuration delivers proton beams in a way that facilitates
greater precision and electronic control.

 

Advanced Oncotherapy will offer healthcare providers affordable systems that
will enable them to treat cancer with innovative technology as well as
expected lower treatment-related side effects.

 

Advanced Oncotherapy continually monitors the market for any emerging
improvements in delivering proton therapy and actively seeks working
relationships with providers of these innovative technologies. Through these
relationships, the Company will remain the prime provider of an innovative and
cost-effective system for particle therapy with protons.

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