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a profoundly
different

approach to cancer
treatment

Novocure 2016
annual report


Novocure’s Director of Preclinical Research, Moshe Giladi, joined the company in August 2005. Dr. Giladi’s team in Israel researches the mechanism of action and the biological application of alternating electric fields.

For over 15 years, Novocure’s researchers have explored a different approach to cancer treatment that puts the patient first.

Medical advancements have led to dramatic improvements in cancer survival in the last 50 years. In the United States, five-year survival for all cancers rose from 49 percent in the 1970s to 69 percent in this decade.

Despite meaningful advancements in cancer treatment, we believe a significant unmet need to improve survival and quality of life remains. Of the 22,280 women diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the U.S. each year, only 46.2 percent live past five years. Of the 224,390 Americans diagnosed with lung cancer annually, only 17.7 percent are alive five years later. Of the 53,070 people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the U.S. each year, only 7.7 percent survive past the five-year mark.

For patients facing some of the most aggressive forms of cancer, these grim statistics are their reality. The five-year survival rates are simply unacceptable. We believe a profoundly different approach to cancer treatment is needed.

Innovative Breakthroughs

Novocure is developing a profoundly different cancer treatment centered on a proprietary therapy called TTFields, the use of alternating electric fields tuned to specific frequencies to disrupt solid tumor cancer cell division. The basic mechanism behind TTFields may be broadly applicable and is not limited to a specific solid tumor type or genetic marker. Importantly, we believe TTFields has the potential to increase survival when used in combination with other cancer therapies without significantly increasing side effects.

who we are

450+

Employees

2

FDA-approved indications

4

currently active markets

the business of novocure

to our fellow shareholders

During our first full year as a public company, we achieved many important milestones that we believe leave us well positioned for our future success.

We had nearly 1,100 active Optune patients on treatment at the end of 2016 and have made great strides in our GBM business. During 2016, we added more than 400 certified treatment centers globally and expanded our sales force in the United States and Germany. We completed the rollout of our second generation Optune System, which weighs less than 2.7 pounds. We took steps forward in market access and in contracting with major payers, entering 2017 with more than 180 million U.S. covered lives.

We also made strides in advancing our clinical pipeline. In October 2016, we enrolled the first patient in our phase 3 pivotal METIS trial studying TTFields in patients with brain metastases from non-small cell lung cancer. In February 2017, we enrolled the first patient in our phase 3 pivotal LUNAR trial studying TTFields in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. We completed phase 2 pilot trials in pancreatic cancer and ovarian cancer, and shared the topline results at our research and development day in December 2016. We also presented what we believe are promising interim results from our phase 2 pilot trial in mesothelioma at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer World Conference. In our preclinical and clinical experience to date, TTFields have consistently shown anti-mitotic activity with no known systemic toxicity, and we are encouraged by the preliminary evidence from these pilot studies.

Financially, we ended the year in a position of strength to support our commercial business and our clinical pipeline.

We recorded revenues of $82.9 million for the full year 2016, representing more than 150 percent of year-overyear revenue growth. On December 31, 2016, we had almost $220 million in cash, cash equivalents and short term investments on our balance sheet.

Looking forward to 2017, we are acutely focused on our simple, two-pronged strategy that we believe will enable us to responsibly sustain the growth of our business while bringing our therapy to patients. First, we are committed to driving commercial adoption of Optune within our GBM business. Second, we are dedicated to advancing our clinical pipeline to indications beyond GBM. We strive to achieve both of these strategies while improving operating leverage. With discipline and focus, we are committed to bringing our profoundly different approach to cancer treatment to as many patients as possible who may benefit from it.

Thank you for your continued support of Novocure.

Asaf Danziger,
CEO

William Doyle,
Executive Chairman

Nearly

1,100

active patients at 2016 year end

5

INDICATIONS IN OUR CLINICAL PIPELINE

$220million

IN CASH, CASH EQUIVALENTS, AND SHORT TERM INVESTMENTS at 2016 year end

A HISTORY OF STRONG LEADERSHIP

Asaf Danziger, Novocure’s Chief Executive Officer, and Bill Doyle, Novocure’s Executive Chairman, have been working together since 2002, bringing low-intensity, alternating electric fields from preclinical concept to a clinically-validated and FDA-approved commercial product for the treatment of glioblastoma.

the science of novocure

a message from our chief science officer, Eilon Kirson, MD, PhD

For more than a century, advances in cancer treatment have depended upon innovative researchers and clinicians and hard-fought breakthroughs. Each step forward was sparked by an idea or a hypothesis.

Today’s traditional treatments–surgery, radiation and chemotherapy—were once thought of as radical, and each therapy evolved over time. Throughout medical history, advancements small and large led to improved survival rates and quality of care over prior treatments. Every several decades, a major breakthrough made a significant enough impact to change the course of cancer treatment for countless patients.

Yet for many people diagnosed with some of the most aggressive forms of cancer, traditional treatments aren’t enough, as is evident from low and stagnant survival rates in certain forms of cancer. In order to make a meaningful impact in the lives of these patients, we believe that we need a different approach to solid tumor cancer treatment.

In 2000, Yoram Palti, Novocure’s founder and professor emeritus of physiology and biophysics at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, hypothesized and began testing such an approach. Instead of searching for ways to improve upon existing cancer therapies, he employed his knowledge of physics to influence biological processes in cancer cells, particularly mitosis. Professor Palti proposed that alternating electric fields tuned to specific frequencies could disrupt cancer cell division without causing many of the life-altering side effects associated with other traditional treatments. Over a decade of preclinical and clinical research in more than 15 cancer cell lines has proven he was right.

Professor Palti viewed the problems with traditional cancer treatments through an innovative lens. He assessed the need for improved outcomes and his own knowledge in physics and biology, and questioned what people think about existing treatments and where they might be stuck in their thought patterns. By thinking of killing cancer from a new perspective, he discovered another way.

The spirit of Professor Palti’s original hypothesis remains a core pillar of Novocure today. As innovators ourselves, we carried Professor Palti’s original idea forward. Like the many innovators in cancer research who’ve come before, we see the limitations of current treatments not as a challenge, but as an opportunity to approach the problem—and find a solution—in a profoundly different way.

Eilon Kirson, MD, PhD

Chief Science Officer
and Head of Research
and Development

Advancing alternating electric field therapy

Novocure’s Chief Science Officer and Head of Research and Development Eilon Kirson, MD, PhD was one of the first employees to join the company in 2002. Dr. Kirson has global responsibility for Novocure’s preclinical and clinical and product development programs, as well as the company’s regulatory strategy.

“Even after 15+ years of research, there is still more being learned about treatment with alternating electric fields. We are excited about the promising application of this profoundly different approach to solid tumor cancer treatment, for glioblastoma and beyond.”

— Eilon Kirson, MD, PhD
Chief Science Officer and Head of Research and Development