Novocure Ltd (NASDAQ:NVCR) announced new Phase 3 data showing that glioblastoma patients who received TTFields in combination with chemotherapy at first recurrence lived significantly longer than patients who received chemotherapy alone. The data will be presented at the 20th Annual Society for Neuro-Oncology Meeting inSan Antonio.
The post-hoc analysis of the EF-14 Phase 3 clinical trial shows that patients treated with TTFields in combination with physician’s best choice second line chemotherapy reduced their risk of death by 31 percent compared to patients treated with physician’s best choice second line chemotherapy alone (HR= 0.695, p= 0.0489). Patients treated with TTFields in combination with bevacizumab (Avastin®), reduced their risk of death by 39 percent compared to patients treated with bevacizumab alone (HR=0.606, p= 0.0428).
“Our analysis shows that GBM patients continue benefiting from TTFields therapy even after their disease has recurred,” says Santosh Kesari, a trial investigator and Chair of Translational Neuro-Oncology and Neurotherapeutics at John Wayne Cancer Institute and Director of Neuro-Oncology at the Pacific Brain Tumor Center at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California. “This survival benefit is maintained across multiple lines of second line therapy, including bevacizumab, and points to the need for physicians to incorporate Optune into the standard-of-care for glioblastoma.” (Original Source)
Shares of NovoCure are up 21.37% to $26.75 in after-hours trading. NVCR has a 1-year high of $30.89 and a 1-year low of $15.01. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $22.57 and its 200-day moving average is $22.57.
On the ratings front, NovoCure has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. In a report issued on October 27, J.P. Morgan analyst Cory Kasimov initiated coverage with a Buy rating on NVCR and a price target of $29, which implies an upside of 31.6% from current levels. Separately, on the same day, Wedbush’s Tao Levy initiated coverage with a Buy rating on the stock and has a price target of $30.
According to TipRanks.com, which ranks over 7,500 financial analysts and bloggers to gauge the performance of their past recommendations, Cory Kasimov and Tao Levy have a total average return of -2.0% and 17.3% respectively. Kasimov has a success rate of 46.6% and is ranked #3269 out of 3857 analysts, while Levy has a success rate of 63.0% and is ranked #252.
NovoCure Ltd is a commercial stage oncology company. It is engaged in the development, manufacture and commercialization of tumor treating fields for the treatment of solid tumors.
