Last checked at 16 Apr 2019 07:00
16 April 2019
ADVANCED ONCOTHERAPY PLC
("Advanced Oncotherapy" or the "Company")
Senior Management Appointment
Advanced Oncotherapy (AIM: AVO), the developer of a next-generation proton therapy system for cancer treatment, announces the appointment of Moataz Karmalawy as Chief Commercial Officer and President of the US division with immediate effect. This appointment is a non-board appointment.
Previously Mr Karmalawy served as General Manager of the Worldwide Particle Therapy Business for Varian Medical Systems, Inc. ("Varian Medical"), the world's largest manufacturer of radiotherapy equipment for 12 years. At Varian Medical he was responsible for running the P&L, and for all aspects of leading the proton therapy business unit. Whilst at Varian Medical, Mr Karmalawy integrated the acquired proton therapy business into the division, before growing the order book to in excess of $1 billion and achieving a 50% market share of the global particle therapy products market.
Before joining Varian Medical, Mr Karmalawy worked at Philips Medical Systems, Inc for 10 years where he served in several senior executive roles. He also led the organisation to winning the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (a US award which carries a formal recognition of performance excellence) as well as capturing 65% of the global nuclear medicine market share which gave them a ranking of number one for quality & customer satisfaction industry wide.
Commenting, Moataz Karmalawy, said: "Advanced Oncotherapy stands out as an incredibly exciting opportunity within the proton therapy market. The global capacity to treat patients with proton therapy has been disappointingly low due to the high cost of traditional proton therapy technologies. As a result, only 1% of patients eligible for radiotherapy are being treated with proton therapy. Advanced Oncotherapy's technology will make this treatment more affordable and accessible to cancer patients worldwide and the LIGHT system has a number of technical advantages to existing technology that will deliver better patient outcomes and offer an accuracy and adjustability beyond legacy technologies.
"Having spent the last 12 years developing the market dominance of the largest supplier of proton therapy products, I have first-hand experience of the considerable clinical demand for a more readily available and affordable technology. It is therefore easy to see how the huge potential for the LIGHT system can address that demand. I look forward to realising that potential in my new role at an exciting time for the Company now that the technology has been validated."
Nicolas Sérandour, Chief Executive Officer of Advanced Oncotherapy, said: "Bringing someone of Mr Karmalawy's calibre and experience on board is a testament to the advantages of our next-generation proton beam technology and to the opportunity that presents itself as we move towards commercialisation of the LIGHT system. With the global capacity to treat patients with proton therapy of only 50,000 patients a year, and roughly 350,000 patients diagnosed with cancer each year in the UK alone, it is clear that there is a desperate need for the roll-out of a technology that can bring the benefits of proton beam therapy to millions of patients worldwide."
For further information, please contact:
Advanced Oncotherapy Plc | Tel: +44 (0) 20 3617 8728 | |
Dr. Michael Sinclair, Executive Chairman | www.avoplc.com | |
Nicolas Serandour, Chief Executive Officer | ||
Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker) | Tel: +44 (0) 20 3328 5656 | |
Nick Athanas / Liz Kirchner / Nicholas Chambers | ||
Stifel Nicolaus Europe (Joint Broker) | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7710 7600 | |
Jonathan Senior | ||
Walbrook PR (Financial PR & IR) | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7933 8780 avo@walbrookpr.com | |
Paul McManus / Anna Dunphy | Mob: +44 (0) 7980 541 893 / +44 (0) 7876 741 001 | |
About Advanced Oncotherapy Plc
Advanced Oncotherapy is a provider of particle therapy in the treatment of cancer, which harnesses the very best in modern technology. Advanced Oncotherapy's R&D team, ADAM, in Geneva, focuses on the development of a proprietary proton accelerator - LIGHT (Linac Image Guided Hadron Technology). LIGHT accelerates protons to the energy levels achieved in legacy machines but in a compact and truly modular unit, offering significant cost advantages. LIGHT also delivers proton beams in a way that facilitates greater precision and electronic control, which are not achievable with currently available alternative technologies.
Advanced Oncotherapy will offer healthcare providers affordable systems that will enable them to treat cancer with an innovative technology, offering better health outcomes and lower treatment related side effects.
Advanced Oncotherapy continually monitors the market for any emerging improvements in delivering proton or particle therapy and actively seeks working relationships with providers of these innovative technologies. Through these relationships, the Company will remain the prime provider of cutting edge, cost-effective systems for particle therapy.