(Reuters) -Novocure said on Wednesday that its device met the main goal of a late-stage trial by slowing the progression of cancer to the brain in patients with a type of lung cancer, sending its shares up about 33% in before-the-bell trading.
The positive trial data comes just months after the U.S. drug regulator had accepted the company’s premarket approval application for the device for the treatment non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) together with standard systemic therapies.
The device, Tumor Treating Fields, along with supportive care slowed the spreading of cancer to the brain to 21.9 months compared to 11.3 months for supportive care alone in patients of NSCLC, the company said in a statement.
In the study, supportive care consisted of, but was not limited to, treatment with steroids, anti-epileptic drugs, blood thinners, pain control or nausea control medications, the company said.
Tumor Treating Fields helps in creating electric fields that disrupt cancer cell growth.
The company said that around 25% of patients with NSCLC have brain metastasis at diagnosis.
Novocure said it plans to submit the data to regulatory authorities.
In August, the device had failed in a late-stage ovarian cancer trial.
