NovoCure (Nasdaq: NVCR) announced good results today in its trial of a treatment for pancreatic cancer. The announcement follows the approval granted two months ago for the sale of its treatment for lung cancer. NovoCure’s share price is currently up by more than 30% on Nasdaq, giving the company a market cap of $2.83 billion. The share price is up by 82% for the year to date, after a period of decline.
NovoCure’s trial was conducted on a group of patients with an advanced stage of local pancreatic cancer that could not be surgically removed. The trial group was treated with NovoCure’s product in combination with chemotherapy. The primary endpoint in the trial was the survival rate of patients, and it was clearly met. 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’s product was 16.2 months, which compares with 14.2 months with standard treatment of chemotherapy alone.
Two additional months of life may not sound like much, but that is the median figure, and for some of the patients the gain was greater. NovoCure chief medical officer Nicolas Leupin said, "PANOVA-3 is the first and only Phase 3 trial to demonstrate a statistically significant benefit in overall survival specifically in unresectable, locally advanced pancreatic cancer, and is NovoCure’s third positive Phase 3 clinical trial in the last two years."
On the basis of the trial results, NovoCure will file for regulatory approval of its product, probably next year.
No comparison was carried out in this trial with immunotherapy treatment, a newer method of treatment than chemotherapy approved for use in a small proportion of pancreatic cancer patients. The results of an additional trial, of Novocure’s product in combination with immunotherapy, are expected to be published in 2026.
NovoCure has produced a system for treatment of cancerous cells with focused electric fields – Tumor Treating Fields (TTF) – developed by Prof. Yoram Palti, professor emeritus of physiology and biophysics at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, and chief technology officer at NovoCure. The company’s leading product is a helmet for treating glioblastoma (GBM), a form of brain cancer.
In the third quarter of this year, NovoCure had revenue of $166 million, representing 122% growth over the corresponding quarter. In the past few quarters, the company has posted losses because of its high level of investment in development. It has $90 million cash.
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Now, the company is aiming at 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 address the whole market immediately, but rather to expand gradually among patients for whom the treatment is relevant, as it did with brain cancer.
NovoCure recently announced that Asaf Danziger, its CEO for 22 years, almost from 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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