Novocure (NVCR) is one of only two companies in the Freedom Portfolio that are down for the year. The other is Disney (DIS). Disney had to deal with a world-wide pandemic which has robbed it of virtually all of its major cash generating businesses (amusement parks, movies, cruises, live sports) so it’s completely understandable that it has struggled in our current environment. Novocure doesn’t quite have the same excuse.

It’s not 100% clear to me why Novocure has had such a (relatively) tough year, but my best guess is that Coronavirus has made it difficult for them to make progress on some of the trials that they were hoping would show the efficacy of tumor treating fields on other types of cancer.

Novocure reported their second quarter results a few weeks ago. Here are the main takeaways:

• Net revenue up 34% year over year
• Gross profit up 38% year over year
• Active patients up 20% year over year

Those are some pretty nice numbers, but the real exciting part was later in the earnings report when they discussed the anticipated clinical milestones for their trials:

• Data from phase 2 pilot HEPANOVA trial in advanced liver cancer (2021)
• Data from phase 2 pilot EF-31 trial in gastric cancer (2021)
• Interim analysis of phase 3 pivotal LUNAR trial in non-small cell lung cancer (2021)
• Interim analysis of phase 3 pivotal PANOVA-3 trial in locally advanced pancreatic cancer (2021)
• Interim analysis of phase 3 pivotal INNOVATE-3 trial in recurrent ovarian cancer (2021)
• Data from phase 3 pivotal METIS trial in brain metastases (2022)
• Data from phase 2 pilot EF-33 trial with high-intensity arrays in recurrent glioblastoma (2022)
• Final data from phase 3 pivotal LUNAR trial in non-small cell lung cancer (2023)
• Final data from phase 3 pivotal PANOVA-3 trial in locally advanced pancreatic cancer (2023)
• Final data from phase 3 pivotal INNOVATE-3 trial in recurrent ovarian cancer (2023)

That’s a long list of cancers where tumor treating fields might prove to be an effective procedure. Even better: it’s a procedure that can be used in addition to other treatments, so there’s less risk of it getting replaced by something else.

I remain extremely excited to see what the next 3 years brings for Novocure.