Proton beam machine-developer Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO:AIM) races 9.6% higher to 7.1p after a report claims that its method of tackling cancer is as effective as other treatments.

The report, which was published in the Lancet Oncology, studied 59 patients aged between three and 21 and found that proton therapy causes fewer side effects in children than using conventional radiotherapy.

Advanced Oncotherapy is developing LIGHT, which is a smaller machine than those that are currently available on the market.

The company is opening a proton beam centre in London?s Harley Street and hopes to treat its first patient in 2017.

Web - Advanced Oncotherapy - 01 Feb 2016

The LIGHT machine will treat cancer patients using high-energy protons instead of conventional X-ray radiotherapy. Proton therapy targets the tumour directly causing minimal damage to the healthy surrounding tissues and organs.

This method of fighting cancer was used to treat five-year-old Ashya King after his parents took him from a sick bed in the UK to the Czech Republic in 2014 to tackle his brain tumour. King is now free of cancer.

Advanced Oncotherapy pre-sold two LIGHT machines in 2015 in deals worth up to $120 million combined to hospitals in China. Management say there are at least four other deals in the pipeline.

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Issue Date: 01 Feb 2016