Advanced Oncotherapy
Broker Notes
Westhouse retains a Buy recommendation with a Target Price of 25p.
Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) – Analyst Robert Sanders – On Schedule. Two CCL modules are announced as ready for high-power testing. This is the first time two CCL modules will be tested together…the finished proton beam cancer treatment machine (LIGHT system) will incorporate 10 CCL units/15 CCL modules in a series so that protons are accelerated to the necessary speed to treat radiosensitive tumours. AVO has to date been hitting all of its previously set-out milestones. Westhouse Securities said in a note growing awareness of proton therapy as a treatment for cancer should ensure strong demand for Advanced Oncotherapy’s LIGHT system. Analyst Robert Sanders said Monday’s news showed the company was on track to have its treatment on track for 2017.
Beaufort Securities has a Speculative Buy rating.
Says the High-power testing of LIGHT’s individual components and modules at this stage is a crucial demonstration of their ability to perform to specifications. Initial low power testing has shown that they perform to expectations and it is realistic to expect that the successful conclusion of these tests to build confidence that the CCL modules can work under the required conditions to deliver the high energy protons required to treat patients effectively. Results from this work should be expected during Q4’15, before moving onto to running the modules in series as a bank of accelerators. Once demonstrated, the most significant technological hurdle will have been successfully negotiated, leaving only a number of less challenging barriers ahead. While Beaufort considers that the FDA could potentially hinder product approval for rather longer than might presently be anticipated, the extent of interest from other non-dependent territories (in particular that presently being shown from China) suggests the Group is likely to be overwhelmed by demand for LIGHT as soon as commercial units become available. The enormity of this opportunity and the market potential it presents has already been significantly detailed in Beaufort initiation research of September 2014 and subsequent updates. In simple terms, if AVO delivers exactly ‘what it says on the tin’, the operational and cost advantages LIGHT offers will effectively render first generation proton therapy devices all but obsolete. Its principal limitation would then become simply its capacity to deliver to a global opportunity that will grow dramatically beyond its current US$2.5bn size, as it will also become the natural replacement for the more antiquated X-ray radiation machines that are installed in huge numbers around the globe. Given such an outcome, of course, major international competitors wishing to remain in the game will almost certainly be willing to pay a handsome price, one way or another, to get their hands on AVO’s proprietary technologies. Advanced Oncotherapy plc remains one of Beaufort’s key investment picks for 2015. Beaufort Securities acts as corporate broker to Advanced Oncotherapy plc