Add to Novocure‘s (NVCR) medical device improved the survival of patients with late-stage lung cancer over standard drugs, causing NVCR shares to soar on Thursday.
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The company sells a device that uses electric fields at specific frequencies to disrupt the rapid division of cancer cells. This prevents abnormal cancer cells from growing into tumors.
Novocure tested its tumor treatment fields in addition to standard drugs. The combination resulted in a statistically significant improvement in overall survival in patients with stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer.
These patients are also resistant to certain chemotherapy regimens. It has been six years since a regimen in Phase 3 testing resulted in a significant improvement in overall survival in these patients, Novocure Chief Executive Officer William Doyle said in a written statement.
“We are also pleased with the outstanding performance of the (tumor treatment fields) together with immunotherapy, which has the potential to prolong patient survival beyond what was previously thought possible,” he said.
In today’s stock market, NVCR stock is up 68.5% to close at 118.81.
NVCR Stock: Questions Remain Unanswered
Novocure plans to file for approval with the Food and Drug Administration in the second half of the year. It is also expected to apply for a CE mark in Europe at the same time.
However, Evercore ISI analyst Vijay Kumar kept his underperform rating on NVCR stock.
The study design was changed in early 2021 based on recommendations from an independent data monitoring committee, Kumar said in a report. The committee roughly halved patient enrollment and shortened the study from 18 months to 12 months. Since then there have been questions about what prompted these changes.
In addition, he noted that Novocure’s technology is in a unique position. Immunotherapy has become the standard of care in cancer treatment, surpassing chemotherapy. Novocure’s device has proven superior to immunotherapy but not chemotherapy. It will be important to investigate how Novocure dealt with this phenomenon at its enrollment, he said.
Kumar has a price target of 42 on NVCR stock. He expects the lung cancer market for Novocure to be worth less than $700 million.
Follow Allison Gatlin on Twitter at @IBD_AGatlin.
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