NovoCure – the company known for its novel approach to treat solid tumors with electric fields — has filed for an IPO to raise up to $300 million. The Israeli medical device pioneer received FDA approval in 2011 for its TTFields product designed to treat Glioblastoma brain cancer.
Chief underwriters for the IPO issue are JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, and Evercore; and the secondary underwriters are Wells Fargo, JMP, and Wedbush PacGro.
The commercial stage oncology company is currently taking part in the 16th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC), where it is presenting ongoing and future clinical trial designs in lung cancer.
“Novocure has developed a pipeline strategy to advance TTFields through phase II pilot and phase III pivotal clinical trials across multiple solid tumor types,” said Dr. Uri Weinberg, Novocure’s Vice President for Research and Development. “In addition to ongoing trials in pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer and brain metastases, we are committed to developing TTFields as a potential treatment modality for thoracic tumors, which unfortunately cause the highest number of cancer-related deaths worldwide.”
For now, the FDA approval is limited to treatment of Glioblastoma but Novocure has filed a request for approval of the device for use in combination with chemotherapy, following a successful trial.
Novocure’s non-invasive treatment was developed by Technion Israel Institute of Technology Prof. Yoram Palti, and includes a helmet that broadcasts electric fields to slow the growth of cancerous glioblastoma brain tumors.