Novocure, a private Jersey Isle oncology company pioneering a novel therapy for solid tumours called TTFields, announced that more than 200 treatment centres in the United States have been certified to prescribe Optune to patients with recurrent glioblastoma (GBM), the most common form of malignant primary brain cancer.

Approximately 12,500 patients are diagnosed each year in the United States with GBM or tumours that typically progress to GBM. Recurrent GBM is widely recognised as one of the deadliest forms of cancer and has very limited treatment options. Tumour Treating Fields (TTFields) therapy delivered by Optune is FDA-approved for recurrent GBM.

Optune is a novel anti-mitotic therapy that is available in the United States by prescription from centres whose clinical staff has been trained to use the system. More than 270 clinical centres have been certified globally, primarily in the United States, Japan and Germany. Recently trained treatment centres include NYU Langone Medical Center / Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center, University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, 21st Century Oncology, Inc.

“Our goal as clinicians is to treat cancer patients with the most current and effective therapies available,” said Constantine Mantz, chief medical officer, 21st Century Oncology, Inc.

“I am pleased to see that this novel and effective therapy, which offers renewed hope and a better quality of life for recurrent GBM patients, is now so widely available across the United States.”

“We are proud to add to the list of esteemed treatment centers whose clinical staff has been trained to prescribe Optune for recurrent GBM,” said Pritesh Shah, US general manager.

“Novocure is dedicated to expanding the base of certified treatment centers. We believe that, as more physicians gain clinical experience, Optune has the potential to transform the standard of care for this difficult to treat disease.”

“The neuro-oncology clinic at University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center is pleased to offer Optune as a treatment option for appropriate patients with recurrent GBM,” said Larry Junck, MD, professor of neurology and co-director of the Neuro-Oncology Programme at the University of Michigan Health System.

TTFields therapy is delivered by a portable, non-invasive medical device designed for continuous use by patients. In vitro and in vivo studies have shown that TTFields therapy slows and reverses tumour growth by inhibiting mitosis, the process by which cells divide and replicate. TTFields therapy creates low intensity, alternating electric fields within a tumor that exert physical forces on electrically charged cellular components, preventing the normal mitotic process and causing cancer cell death.

The US FDA has approved the TTFields therapy delivery system, Optune (previously known as the NovoTTF-100A System), for use as a treatment for adult patients (22 years of age or older) with histologically-confirmed GBM, following histologically or radiologically-confirmed recurrence in the supra-tentorial region of the brain after receiving chemotherapy. The device is intended to be used as monotherapy, and is intended as an alternative to standard medical therapy for GBM after surgical and radiation options have been exhausted.