Technological update

ADVANCED ONCOTHERAPY PLC

("Advanced Oncotherapy" or the "Company")

Technological update

Comparative studies confirm competitive advantages of LIGHT and potential for FLASH

Advanced Oncotherapy (AIM: AVO), the developer of a next-generation proton therapy system for cancer treatment, announces positive results from its comparative study which further demonstrates the competitive advantages of the LIGHT system, the Company's proprietary proton accelerator.

The study, performed by Advanced Oncotherapy's R&D team, ADAM, in Geneva, was aimed at comparing LIGHT against conventional cyclotrons which use energy degraders, the latter being the most commonly used accelerators in proton therapy technology today; its purpose was to compare the efficiency of both types of proton accelerators. The analysis has been performed based on the measured data obtained from the proton beam generated by the current LIGHT accelerator located in Geneva and using simulation tools.

The efficiency represents the ratio of the protons produced to the number of protons delivered to the patient. A low efficiency implies that the clinical facility housing the proton accelerator needs to have more reinforced protective shielding to contain the unwanted induced radiation not delivered to patients, which is both expensive and time-consuming. The ability of treating patients faster and better is also impacted. The technical term for efficiency is "transmission," which can be measured in percent.

The analysis showed that LIGHT had a transmission of more than 95% for all the energies required to treat patients. In contrast, the transmission of a conventional cyclotron with energy degraders is less than 20% for an energy of 170MeV and less than 50% for an energy of 210MeV.

The results of this study provide further evidence that LIGHT has been designed to make cancer treatment more affordable and accessible by reducing concerns over safety and lowering the costs associated with the extensive shielding requirements needed with traditional technologies.

FLASH Radiation

Currently, cancer treatment is looking forward to an exciting new technique called FLASH, where the entire radiation treatment is given in less than ½ of a second. Proton FLASH has been investigated using cyclotrons. These proton accelerators can produce FLASH when protons are accelerated at their maximum energy; however, the dose rate and hence the ability to deliver FLASH are significantly reduced at lower energy due to the use of the energy degraders.

Using the proton transmission and other parameters of the LIGHT system, as well as the ½ second FLASH time limit, AVO scientists have performed FLASH estimates of scanned proton beam delivery based on the commercial treatment planning system from RaySearch. The results of the study, "Investigation on FLASH therapy using a high frequency linac for protons" are to be presented at the upcoming Particle Therapy Co-Operative Group (PTCOG) conference in Manchester, UK. Significantly, the results indicate the LIGHT system is intended for FLASH treatment and may be uniquely suited to the most effective application of FLASH because its FLASH performance is independent of the energy and hence of the location and depth of the tumour (in contrast to cyclotrons).

Further information on these studies can be found on the website of the company: https://www.avoplc.com/Our-Research-Interests/More-Applications-and-Research-Interests 

Prof. Stephen Myers, Executive Chairman of ADAM, a fully-owned subsidiary of Advanced Oncotherapy, said:

"Proton therapy systems use accelerators which increase the speed of the protons from zero to 60%, the speed of light. The first type of accelerator to do this was the cyclotron which accelerates protons to single high speed in an outward spiral where they come out of the machine. The required proton speed depends on the patient case - how deep their cancer is in their body. Usually, the patient needs lower speed than the cyclotron produces, so the protons must be slowed down by mechanically moving thick pieces of carbon into the proton beam, called the energy degrader. However, these degraders waste many of the protons in the slowing down process, demanding thick, expensive radiation shielding and reducing the number of protons available for the patient's treatment.

"This study shows how fundamentally different the LIGHT system is. Instead of accelerating protons in a spiral, LIGHT speeds up the protons in a straight line. This design results in a much higher transmission, and this opens up a myriad of benefits for patients and customers."

Nicolas Serandour, CEO of Advanced Oncotherapy, said:

"Today's results further enhance the tremendous opportunity for AVO to competitively differentiate its LIGHT system. LIGHT has been designed to tackle most of the costs associated with the set-up of a proton therapy centre whilst providing greater patient access. Due to the high efficiency of LIGHT at all energies, patient treatment times are not expected to depend on how deep their cancer is in their body. Having an efficient source of protons available for treatment is becoming more critical as patient daily treatment doses are following a rising trend, placing additional demand on the machine to avoid longer treatment times.

"We have important milestones ahead of us, including our first site in Harley Street which we expect to  be soon ready for fit-out, and we reiterate our commitment to treat our first patients towards the end of 2020."

About Advanced Oncotherapy Plc www.avoplc.com

Advanced Oncotherapy is a provider of particle therapy in the treatment of cancer, which harnesses the very best in modern technology. Advanced Oncotherapy's R&D team, ADAM, in Geneva, focuses on the development of a proprietary proton accelerator - LIGHT (Linac Image Guided Hadron Technology). LIGHT accelerates protons to the energy levels achieved in legacy machines but in a compact and truly modular unit, offering significant cost advantages. LIGHT also delivers proton beams in a way that facilitates greater precision and electronic control, which are not achievable with currently available alternative technologies.

Advanced Oncotherapy will offer healthcare providers affordable systems that will enable them to treat cancer with an innovative technology, offering better health outcomes and lower treatment related side effects.

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