REG - Advanced Oncotherapy - Operational update

Advanced OncotherapyAnnouncement

26/04/2022 07:16

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RNS Number : 2854J  Advanced Oncotherapy PLC  26 April 2022

Prior to publication, the information contained within this announcement was
deemed by the Company to constitute inside information for the purposes of
Regulation 11 of the Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019/310.
With the publication of this announcement, this information is now considered
to be in the public domain.

26 April 2022

 

ADVANCED ONCOTHERAPY PLC

 

("Advanced Oncotherapy" or the "Company")

 

Operational update

 

LIGHT system beam successfully optimised to a sub-millimetre size

 

20 of the 21 accelerating modules have been RF conditioned

 

Fully operational LIGHT system at 230 MeV continues to be expected during
summer 2022

 

Advanced Oncotherapy (AIM: AVO), the developer of LIGHT, the next-generation
proton therapy system for cancer treatment, today provides an operational
update on its LIGHT system.

 

Since the last operational update published by the Company on 1 March 2022,
Advanced Oncotherapy has made significant progress, including:

 

·      LIGHT system beam optimised to a sub-millimetre size, with a beam
current of about 50 μA; and

 

·      20 of the 21 accelerating modules have been radio-frequency
("RF") conditioned.

 

LIGHT system beam optimised to a sub-millimetre size

 

The Company continues to make good progress with the commissioning of the
LIGHT system. The machine installed at Daresbury has been successfully
optimised to deliver a proton beam with a beam size smaller than 1 mm and a
beam current of about 50 μA, equivalent to 500 million protons per pulse. As
a result, the Company has made good progress in preparing data to be sent to
the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the stability, intensity
and spot size of the proton beam. These new data sets demonstrate that the
measurements of the quality of the beam match those from computer simulations.
The Company can now proceed to finalise the integration of the remaining high
energy accelerating modules of the LIGHT machine and further optimise the
proton beam. The Company continues to expect a fully operational LIGHT system
at 230 MeV during summer 2022.

 

RF conditioning completed for 20 of the 21 accelerating modules

 

Assembly and commissioning of the LIGHT system requires a stepwise approach to
conditioning the components. To date, 20 of the 21 accelerating modules needed
to accelerate protons to an energy of 230 MeV have been RF conditioned. These
include the proton source, the RFQ, four SCDTLs and 14 CCLs. Details on RF
conditioning, RFQ, SCDTLs and CCLs are outlined in the notes section below.

 

Nicolas Serandour, Chief Executive Officer of Advanced Oncotherapy, said:

 

"Since our last update, we have made significant headway towards the delivery
of our first-ever LIGHT system operating at 230 MeV. We are pleased to see
positive data on the performance of the machine's beam, in line with our
computer simulations, outlining the superior profile of the LIGHT proton beam.
As we progress to finalise the integration of the remaining high energy
accelerating modules of the LIGHT system, we remain on track to have a fully
operational LIGHT system at 230 MeV during summer 2022."

 

- 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 / Liz Kirchner (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:

 

The following section outlines some of the key technical components for the
LIGHT system (referred in today's announcement):

 

·   Radio-frequency quadrupole (RFQ) - The RFQ is a copper accelerating
structure which focuses, bunches and accelerates protons up to 5 MeV. The RFQ
sits between the proton source and the side-coupled drift tube linacs.

 

·     Side-coupled drift tube linacs (SCDTLs) - The LIGHT accelerator
includes four SCDTL modules which accelerate protons from 5 MeV to 37.5 MeV.
The SCDTLs sit between the RFQ and the CCLs.

 

·     Coupled cavity linacs (CCLs) - The CCL structures or "higher speed
accelerators" are an essential part of the LIGHT Accelerator. They consist of
a series of "cells" which accelerate the protons from 37.5 MeV to energies
that can be applied usefully to a clinical setting (70 MeV to 230 MeV).

 

·    RF conditioning - The radio-frequency (RF) conditioning involves
gradually increasing the input power until there is an electrical "breakdown".
After each breakdown, the accelerating modules can sustain an increase in the
input power. This process is continued and iterative until the power reached
is 20% above the nominal values. This ensures great stability when operating
at nominal power. As the Daresbury LIGHT system is expected to be the first
linear proton accelerator to be commissioned for medical use, the RF
conditioning is unprecedented, hence carrying some level of uncertainty with
regards to the time needed to complete this important task. This risk has been
significantly removed following recent progress.

 

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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