Cancer treatment with radiation today

Globally, more than 60% of cancer patients receive radiotherapy as part of their cancer treatment.  Of that subset, only 1% of patients receive treatment with protons. Why? Because the current machines, are massive and require a 3 story edifice and cost in excess of US$180-200m. Not surprisingly, there are only 45 centres operating around the world. Despite the extensive capital  requirements, the demand for proton systems is expected to treble by 2018 and the patient numbers continue to grow rapidly around the world.     Protons are used to treat many cancers including tumours of the head & neck, eyes, lungs, breast, GI system, prostate, brain, base of skull and spinal tumours.

The value in protons

Clinicians frequently must calculate the risk-return trade-off of prescribing an adequate radiation dose to kill the spreading disease vs. the physical hardship and economic impact of damaging healthy non-cancerous tissues especially involving vital organs like the heart, lung, brain or spinal cord.

Treatment with protons is an increasingly favoured alternative to x-rays in children with cancer. In children, damage from x-rays often results in physical deformities, loss of vision or hearing and degradation of cognitive skills. Because children who survive cancer are likely to live into adulthood, the risk that radiotherapy will cause new cancers later in life is high. Both long and short term side effects have been demonstrated to be lower in these patients when they are treated with protons instead of x-rays.

 AVO’s technology inspired by CERN

In September 2013, AVO completed its acquisition of ADAM, SA (Applications of Detectors and Accelerators to Medicine), one of the first spin-offs of CERN. With R&D offices on the CERN campus in Geneva, AVO continues to honour the founder’s mission to support and to promote scientific know-how and innovations in medical technology for cancer therapy. AVO purchased ADAM, which had already invested $30 million in proton beam accelerator technology, from Brahma A.G. in an all-stock deal in which the seller received 25.1 percent of AVO shares. Brahma, A.G., a private Swiss holding and investment company, founded ADAM in 2007.

Making radiation with protons affordable and accessible

AVO’s  proprietary LIGHT system with 1, 2 or 3 treatment rooms is smaller and more compact than the currently available 4/5 room machines using cyclotrons/synchrotrons to accelerate the protons; these accelerators require gantries weighing 200+ tons each to deliver protons to the patient.  The AVO LIGHT system requires much less shielding which not only significantly lowers the initial construction costs, but also decreases fixed running costs of delivering patient treatments.

In order to create a much more cost-effective solution which is a quarter of the size of a conventional proton machine and costs 60%-70%, AVO has brought together a global team of precision engineers, a team of clinical specialists with experience in delivering proton therapy who share with AVO a vision for wider access for patients to have an option of being treated with proton therapy, and a seasoned executive team with the skill and experience to deliver this project to market.

Installations and timeline:  

AVO has letters of intent for six (6) machines in the UK which are currently being converted to contracts. The first demonstrator site in North American will be at SUNY Upstate Medical Centre in Syracuse, New York,  The AVO team is on schedule to deliver the first machine in Qtr 1 2016 and will commence manufacturing the this first machine imminently. Currently, AVO is in discussion with nine (9) additional sites for LIGHT in the Americas and three (3) other locations globally.

In addition to collaborating with Upstate, AVO plans to establish a comprehensive operations facility in Syracuse to service their customer base in the Americas and Asia. This plant will be AVO’s North American hub to manufacture, assembly, test, market, sell, distribute and service their patented system for all customers outside of Europe.  

AVO’s projection calls for 200 employees by the middle of 2016 in 50,000 square feet of space to manufacture systems estimated to cost $40 million each for 3 proton treatment rooms. A LIGHT system will include the imaging equipment, treatment-planning and patient-positioning software, patient management software, robotic patient couch, and facility workflow-management software. With nearly $400 million in advance orders already in the pipeline, the company forecasts growing its annual sales quickly to $1 billion.

A similar plant will be established in Northern Ireland for customers in Europe and the ROW.

AVO’s unique linac based accelerator (LIGHT) is smaller, much more affordable and an improved alternative to the current cyclotron or synchrotron based proton equipment which can cost in excess of $80million with a total project cost of $180-220 million for a 3 treatment room facility. To date, over 100,000 patients have been treated worldwide with proton therapy.

For more information, please visit us on www.avoplc.com or follow us @ AdvOnco_AVO