Trial success boosts NovoCure – Globes

NovoCure (Nasdaq: NVCR) today announced good results in its pancreatic cancer trial. This announcement comes after the approval granted two months ago to sell the lung cancer treatment. NovoCure’s stock price is currently up more than 30% on the Nasdaq, giving the company a market cap of $2.83 billion. The share price has risen by 82% year to date, after a period of decline.

The NovoCure trial was conducted in a group of patients with advanced-stage localized pancreatic cancer that could not be removed surgically. The experimental group was treated with NovoCure in combination with chemotherapy. The primary endpoint in the trial was patient survival, and this was clearly achieved. The proportion of patients still alive in the treated group after two years was 33% higher than in the control group. Median overall survival in the group treated with NovoCure was 16.2 months, compared to 14.2 months with standard chemotherapy alone.

An extra two months of life may not seem like a lot, but that’s the average number, and for some patients the gain was greater. “PANOVA-3 is the first and only phase III trial to demonstrate a statistically significant benefit in overall survival specifically in unresectable advanced pancreatic cancer, and is the third positive phase III clinical trial for,” said Nicola Lubin, chief medical officer at NovoCure. NovoCure in the latest NovoCure clinical trial. “Two years.”

Based on the trial results, NovoCure will apply for regulatory approval for its product, possibly next year.

No comparison was made in this trial with immunotherapy, which is a newer treatment approach than chemotherapy approved for use in a small percentage of patients with pancreatic cancer. Results of an additional trial of Novocure with immunotherapy are expected to be published in 2026.

NovoCure has produced a system for treating cancer cells using focused electric fields – Tumor Treatment Fields (TTF) – developed by Professor Yoram Balti, Professor Emeritus of Physiology and Biophysics at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, and Chief Technology Officer of NovoCure. The company’s flagship product is a helmet for the treatment of glioblastoma (GBM), a form of brain cancer.

In the third quarter of this year, NovoCure generated revenue of $166 million, representing 122% growth compared to the corresponding quarter. In the past few quarters, the company has recorded losses due to the high level of investment in development. It has $90 million in cash.

Now, the company is aiming for two larger markets. The lung cancer market is ten times larger than the GBM market, and the pancreatic cancer market is five times larger. Novocure is not expected to go full-market immediately, but is expected to gradually expand among patients for whom the treatment is appropriate, as happened with brain cancer.

NovoCure recently announced that Asaf Danziger, its CEO for 22 years, almost since the day it was founded, will step down, and will be replaced by the company’s CFO, Ashley Cordova.

Published by Globes, Israel Business News – en.globes.co.il – on December 2, 2024.

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