On April 13, 2018 Novocure (NASDAQ: NVCR) reported that new data on Tumor Treating Fields will be presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting 2018, which will be held April 14 through April 18, in Chicago (Press release, NovoCure, APR 13, 2018, View Source [SID1234525307]). Tumor Treating Fields is a cancer therapy that uses electric fields tuned to specific frequencies to disrupt cell division, inhibiting tumor growth and causing affected cancer cells to die.
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A total of 35 presentations on the application of Tumor Treating Fields in seven cancer types will be presented. Of the 35 presentations, 18 are externally led research. Highlights include data demonstrating the utility of Tumor Treating Fields in various applications and include the following:
A phase 2 pilot study is assessing the safety of Tumor Treating Fields when administered concomitant to radiation therapy in newly diagnosed glioblastoma patients. The interim results found that newly diagnosed GBM patients who received Tumor Treating Fields at the same time of radiation therapy reported similar proportions of Tumor Treating Fields-related skin toxicity as reported by patients in a phase 3 pivotal study of newly diagnosed GBM patients who received Tumor Treating Fields plus temozolomide four weeks or more after radiation therapy (40 percent versus 52 percent). No other toxicities related to Tumor Treating Fields were reported.
A retrospective safety analysis of Novocure’s EF-14 phase 3 pivotal trial found that the combination of Tumor Treating Fields and the chemotherapy lomustine was a feasible combination in glioblastoma patients who had a recurrence.
Novocure has conducted four phase 2 pilot trials of Tumor Treating Fields in solid tumors located outside of the brain: non small-cell lung cancer, mesothelioma, pancreatic cancer and ovarian cancer. A meta-analysis of 176 patients from these trials found that Tumor Treating Fields applied to the lungs, abdomen and upper pelvis did not result in treatment-related pulmonary, cardiac, hematological or gastrointestinal toxicities. The only common adverse event related to Tumor Treating Fields was skin irritation beneath the device transducer arrays.
"In our preclinical studies to date, Tumor Treating Fields has shown promise in multiple solid tumor types, and we believe it may provide additive or synergistic benefits when combined with certain other anti-cancer agents, which may lead to greater efficacy without significantly increasing the side effects," said Dr. Eilon Kirson, Novocure’s Chief Science Officer and Head of Research and Development. "We must first determine the safety of Tumor Treating Fields in any new application before we can explore potential efficacy. These data support the mild side effect profile of Tumor Treating Fields that we have seen to date."