Early this month, Novocure announced that the first patient was enrolled in the RTOG Foundation’s Phase 2 pilot trial for recurrent glioblastoma.
This trial is aimed to test the safety and efficacy of Optune together with bevacizumab in patients who have bevacizumab-refractory glioblastoma.
Glioblastoma is a rare form of highly metastatic brain cancer.
While there are some treatments available for this condition, glioblastoma remains extremely difficult to treat in patients who have recurrences and have been heavily pretreated. To learn more about glioblastoma, click here.
Optune works by creating low-intensity electric fields, called Tumor Treating Fields, which can reduce or even stop glioblastoma cancer cells from reproducing. It is currently FDA-approved as a treatment option in newly diagnosed and recurrent glioblastoma, but this approval only applies to the use of Optune as a monotherapy. The current trial is intending to use Optune as a combination therapy.
Optune has also been shown in a recent Phase 3 study to increase survival rates when used alongside temozolomide in glioblastoma patients, but Novocure and RTOG hope that the combination of Optune and bevacizumab will overall extend the survival time of recurrent patients even more, who currently have a discouraging prognosis.
Stay tuned as more and more participants are treating with this novel new combination, and if you want to learn more about this exciting trial, click here!
