Operational update

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
Dr. Michael Sinclair, Executive Chairman	Tel: [phone]
Nicolas Serandour, CEO
Allenby Capital Limited (Nomad and Joint Broker)
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SI Capital Ltd (Joint Broker)
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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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