New Device for Brain Cancer Treatment Receives FDA Approval

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Novocure announced that they have received U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the NovoTTF device, which uses electrical energy fields to combat cancerous brain tumors. The device is the first of its kind, and is approved for use in patients who are returning for treatment after undergoing chemotherapy or other interventions.

“The reason why this is so exciting is that we now have FDA approval of a totally new type of treatment for cancer,” said Herb Engelhard, M.D., associate professor of neurosurgery at the University of Illinois in Chicago, Ill.“All of us as investigators were skeptical at first, but I have seen the scans and I believe this is killing cancer cells in patients.”

Dr. Englehard participated in a 237-patient study of the NovoTTF but did not receive compensation.

The NovoTTF uses electric fields to disrupt the division of cancer cells that allow tumors to spread. The electric fields have no effect on healthy cells because the division rate of healthy cells is much slower, if division occurs at all. Patients carry the device in a small bag; four electrodes attach to the head.

The study showed that device patients have fewer side effects than those undergoing chemotherapy, and live for approximately the same amount of time (six months). Device patients also reported higher quality of life than chemotherapy patients.

The NovoTTF device may represent a fourth approach to cancer treatment. A panel of outside advisers to the FDA voted 7 to 6 in favor of the device last month.

The FDA approved the device specifically for glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain cancer.

“This is as effective, or better, than anything that’s ever been tried after standard treatment has failed,” said Al Musella, founder of the Musella Foundation for Brain Tumor Research and Information in Hewlett, N.Y.

Novocure is a privately held company based in Portsmouth, N.H. and Haifa, Israel. The company is currently testing the NovoTTF in non-small cell lung cancer and other cancer types.