Novocure Announces Recipients of 4th Annual AACR-Novocure Grants for Tumor Treating Fields Research Program

Awards aim to promote and support innovative research on Tumor Treating Fields to deepen understanding and accelerate the development of new treatment strategies

Novocure today announced the recipients of the 4^th Annual AACR-Novocure Grants for Tumor Treating Fields Research Program. The AACR-Novocure Grants for Tumor Treating Fields Research Program represents a joint effort between Novocure and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) to promote and support innovative research on Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields). The AACR is the world’s first and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research and its mission to prevent and cure cancer.

Such collaborations help to deepen the understanding of TTFields’ mechanism of action and to identify its optimal use. Extensive preclinical and clinical evidence provides the foundation upon which Novocure executes its strategy to advance TTFields through additional clinical research studies across multiple solid tumor types.

Professor Wafik El-Deiry, M.D., Ph.D., FACP, Director of the Legorreta Cancer Center at Brown University and Associate Dean for Oncologic Sciences at the Warren Alpert Medical School, is one of the grant recipients. His hypothesis is based on a prediction that therapeutic agents that trigger cell stress pathways in different ways may cooperate to achieve a greater therapeutic effect in various cancers.

Over the past year, Dr. El-Deiry, an expert in cancer biology, has become interested in TTFields and their potential to affect the integrated stress response, a signaling network within cells that is related to their survival. His research group will combine TTFields with other therapies, including the oral drug ONC201, and study how the combinations affect the integrated stress response in various cancer types.

“I’m a practicing clinical oncologist. I see patients every week,” said Dr. El-Deiry. “I’m well aware of the genes that contribute to tumor progression, drug resistance, and failure of the immune response, and clearly we need to do better. There’s a certain skillset that I think we have, to be able to design and propose rational combinations in different tumor types to achieve tumor regression with limited toxicity. I look forward to researching how TTFields, when used in combination with other therapies, affects many different solid tumor types.”

Recipients of the AACR-Novocure Tumor Treating Fields Research Grants will receive a total of $250,000 over two years.

“Congratulations to the recipients of the AACR-Novocure Tumor Treating Fields Research Grants,” said Uri Weinberg, Novocure’s Chief Science Officer. “We are honored to collaborate with the AACR to support research to unlock new insights about TTFields that could lead to new treatment strategies for aggressive cancers. We wish the award recipients success as they pursue this important research.”

2022 AACR-Novocure Tumor Treating Fields Research Grants

• Wafik El-Deiry, M.D., Ph.D., FACP; Brown University; Integrated Stress Response induction by TTFields + ONC201 in cancer treatment
• Matthew R. Sarkisian, Ph.D.; University of Florida; Improving TTFields Efficacy by Altering Ciliogenesis
• Stuart Smith, Ph.D.; University of Nottingham; Combining Tumor Treating Fields with Ion Channel Blockade

ABOUT TUMOR TREATING FIELDS

Tumor Treating Fields, or TTFields, are electric fields that disrupt cancer cell division. Fundamental scientific research extends across more than two decades and, in all preclinical research to date, TTFields have demonstrated a consistent anti-mitotic effect. TTFields therapy is intended principally for use together with other standard-of-care cancer treatments. There is a growing body of evidence that supports TTFields’ broad applicability with certain other cancer therapies, including radiation therapy, certain chemotherapies and certain immunotherapies. In clinical research and commercial experience to date, TTFields therapy has exhibited no systemic toxicity, with mild to moderate skin irritation being the most common side effect. The TTFields global development program includes a network of preclinical collaborators and a broad range of clinical trials across all phases, including four phase 3 pivotal trials in a variety of tumor types. To date, more than 24,000 patients have been treated with TTFields therapy.

ABOUT NOVOCURE

Novocure is a global oncology company working to extend survival in some of the most aggressive forms of cancer through the development and commercialization of its innovative therapy, Tumor Treating Fields. Novocure’s commercialized products are approved in certain countries for the treatment of adult patients with glioblastoma and in the U.S. for the treatment of adult patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. Novocure has ongoing or completed clinical trials investigating Tumor Treating Fields in brain metastases, gastric cancer, glioblastoma, liver cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer and ovarian cancer.

Headquartered in Root, Switzerland and with a growing global footprint, Novocure has regional operating centers in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Tokyo, as well as a research center in Haifa, Israel. For additional information about the company, please visit Novocure.com and follow @Novocure on LinkedIn and Twitter.

ABOUT THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR CANCER RESEARCH

Founded in 1907, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is the world’s first and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research and its mission to prevent and cure cancer. AACR membership includes more than 50,000 laboratory, translational, and clinical researchers; population scientists; other health care professionals; and patient advocates residing in 129 countries. The AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise of the cancer community to accelerate progress in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer by annually convening more than 30 conferences and educational workshops—the largest of which is the AACR Annual Meeting, with more than 74,000 attendees for the 2020 virtual meetings and more than 22,500 attendees for past in-person meetings. In addition, the AACR publishes 10 prestigious, peer-reviewed scientific journals and a magazine for cancer survivors, patients, and their caregivers. The AACR funds meritorious research directly as well as in cooperation with numerous cancer organizations. As the Scientific Partner of Stand Up To Cancer, the AACR provides expert peer review, grants administration, and scientific oversight of team science and individual investigator grants in cancer research that have the potential for near-term patient benefit. The AACR actively communicates with legislators and other policymakers about the value of cancer research and related biomedical science in saving lives from cancer. For more information about the AACR, visit www.AACR.org.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

In addition to historical facts or statements of current condition, this press release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements provide Novocure’s current expectations or forecasts of future events. These may include statements regarding anticipated scientific progress on its research programs, clinical trial progress, development of potential products, interpretation of clinical results, prospects for regulatory approval, manufacturing development and capabilities, market prospects for its products, coverage, collections from third-party payers and other statements regarding matters that are not historical facts. You may identify some of these forward-looking statements by the use of words in the statements such as “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “project,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe” or other words and terms of similar meaning. Novocure’s performance and financial results could differ materially from those reflected in these forward-looking statements due to general financial, economic, environmental, regulatory and political conditions as well as issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and other more specific risks and uncertainties facing Novocure such as those set forth in its Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on February 24, 2022 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Given these risks and uncertainties, any or all of these forward-looking statements may prove to be incorrect. Therefore, you should not rely on any such factors or forward-looking statements. Furthermore, Novocure does not intend to update publicly any forward-looking statement, except as required by law. Any forward-looking statements herein speak only as of the date hereof. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 permits this discussion.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220727005216/en/