Study showcases the potential superiority of LIGHT

RNS Number : 7017H

Advanced Oncotherapy PLC

28 November 2022

 

28 November 2022

ADVANCED ONCOTHERAPY PLC

("Advanced Oncotherapy" or the "Company")

Study showcases the potential superiority of LIGHT in treating breast cancer patients

Study demonstrates that LIGHT proton minibeams could result in up to 99% reduction in radiation dose to critical organs, the heart and lungs, compared with cyclotron-generated protons

Findings expected to be presented at a leading medical conference in 2023

Advanced Oncotherapy (AIM:AVO), the developer of LIGHT, the next-generation proton therapy system for cancer treatment, is pleased to announce findings of an important simulation study which suggests LIGHT will offer superiority in the treatment of breast cancer. These results, coupled with the cost benefits of LIGHT over cyclotron-based proton therapy, build the case for the increased use of proton therapy for breast cancer patients, a large market that has potential to be addressed by LIGHT.

The study, which was conducted by the Company, has subsequently been reviewed by its research partner, the Cleveland Clinic, and is expected to be presented at a leading medical conference during 2023. Such simulation studies are an accepted practice in radiotherapy and have been shown to be highly accurate in predicting tumour response and follow-up event rates¹.

The research compared treatment plans for breast cancer patients, created in RayStation (RaySearch Labs AB, Stockholm), a treatment planning system, for two digital anthropomorphic phantoms (digital human models), which differed in body mass index and breast volume: a larger patient model - "50", and a smaller patient model - "89". The aim of the research was to investigate the relative doses to critical organs at risk ("OAR"), in particular the heart and lungs in the case of breast cancer radiotherapy, for proton therapy with the LIGHT system and LIGHT minibeams versus cyclotron-based proton therapy systems. Reducing the collateral radiation dose delivered to the healthy tissues in OAR is associated with a lower toxicity burden to patients. In addition, the research assessed whether treating breast cancer patients with LIGHT in the upright position compared to traditional treatment in the supine (lying down) position may offer further benefits to patients.

The findings from the simulation study imply that the LIGHT beam spot size, particularly LIGHT minibeams, is capable of delivering better results for OAR preservation in patients with breast cancer while maintaining similar target coverage compared with legacy cyclotron treatment. In addition, the study showed that treating patients in an upright position, as the Company has installed at its assembly site in Daresbury, Cheshire, UK, demonstrated superior results compared with the supine position for whole breast radiation. The superiority of the upright treatment position is attributed to the greater physical separation between the heart and the breast in comparison to the supine position. Specifically, the LIGHT minibeam system was found to reduce the OAR doses by up to 99% compared with the cyclotron-generated proton beams. As seen in Table 1 below, the OAR dose reductions were greatest for whole breast irradiations in the upright position and the LIGHT minibeams were shown to reduce OAR dose in all of the modelled situations.

Table 1: Maximum small volume OAR dose reduction for LIGHT proton minibeams vs. cyclotron proton beams

	% heart dose reduction	% lung dose reduction
Patient "50" model supine whole breast	98	96
Patient "50" model supine partial breast	81	83
Patient "50" upright whole breast	98	96
Patient "50" upright partial breast	70	83
Patient "89" model supine whole breast	99	98
Patient "89" model supine partial breast	25	75
Patient "89" model upright whole breast	99	99
Patient "89" model upright partial breast	65	68

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy affecting women worldwide, representing about 25% of all cancers in women². Radiotherapy is commonly used as adjuvant to breast conserving surgery. To date, conventional photon radiotherapy has widely been used to treat breast cancer but can result in significant doses to surrounding organs such as the lungs and heart, especially increasing the risk of coronary heart disease. As previously published by the Particle Therapy Cooperative Group ("PTCOG") Breast Cancer Subcommittee, proton therapy has been shown to reduce the dose to non-target structures while optimising target coverage³. However, PTCOG noted that there remains additional financial costs associated with proton therapy, which the Company believes could be addressed by the LIGHT system as a cost effective method of delivering proton therapy to patients with breast cancer.

Dr. Jonathan Farr, Chief Clinical Officer of Advanced Oncotherapy, said:

"We are excited to announce the results of a study conducted by the Company and reviewed by our research partner, the Cleveland Clinic, which showcases the potential superiority of using the LIGHT system in breast cancer treatment, the most common malignancy in women, versus a traditional cyclotron source proton therapy system . The findings show that the LIGHT proton system is ideally positioned to target such tumours while minimising damage to surrounding healthy tissues, in particular, the heart and lungs. We look forward to presenting data from this simulation at a leading medical conference in 2023 and continuing to work with our research partners to illustrate the clinical advantages of our LIGHT system to patients."

Notes

1 - Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2013 January; 10(1): 27-40. doi:10.1038/nrclinonc.2012.196.

2 - Ferlay J, Colombet M, Soerjomataram I, et al. Cancer statistics for the year 2020: An overview. Int J Cancer. 2021;149(4):778-789.

3 - Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2021 October 01; 111(2): 337-359. doi:10.1016/j.ijrobp.2021.05.110.

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Notes to Editors

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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